Cricket Tales
by AWakeingDream
Summary: There's a curse over Storybrooke that ensures nobody who lives there, save for the Evil Queen who cast the curse, remembers who they were and where they came from. That included Cricket. Despite being a quiet child, Henry still saw her and drew her out, into the middle of all the revelations. But when the curse breaks and memories return, everything about her gets complicated.
1. Prolog

Before I met Henry, I was shy and awkward. I was a shadow child, doing whatever I could to keep from getting noticed. I sat in the backs of classrooms, alone at lunch, and never raised my hand in class. For months, nobody even knew I existed.

I don't know how Henry found me. But one day, while I was crouched in the damp sand just after a rain storm, alone, drawing pictures with a stick in the sand, he did.

"Hi," he said to me. I didn't look up, I didn't say anything. I knew how to do this by now. If I just ignore them, pretend I can't hear them or pretend they're not there, they'll go away. The few people who have ventured to talk to me always do.

But Henry didn't. When I didn't say anything, he asked, "What are you drawing?"

I still didn't answer. Sometimes it took a minute. Sometimes it took until they asked a question for them to realize that I wasn't going to talk to them. But eventually, they'd go away. Always. That's just how it worked.

Henry still didn't go away though. He crouched down on the wet sand beside me, found a stick, and drew a leave for my cricket to sit on. I looked at him, curious as to why he hadn't left yet. When he looked at me, he just smiled and said, "I'm Henry."

Without even thinking about it, I introduced myself, "I'm Cricket."

The deal was sealed, right then and there. Henry and I became friends in that moment. Best friends, even. For the next months, we were nearly inseparable. I was a clingy friend, but he either didn't notice or didn't care, and often I forgot about my insecurities and nervousness around him. I forgot to worry whether or not he was getting tired of me. He drew me out of my shell. As long as I was with him, I could have conquered the world. Together, we could have conquered, rule, and changed the world. Whatever we wanted.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Mysterious Books**

"This makes no sense," I decide, dropping my pencil down on the top of the table.

"Let me see," Henry looks up from his own worksheet and at mine. "Cricket...you're doodling." It's true. We've been working on this work sheet for half an hour. Well, the rest of the class has. I've been doodling on the page.

"Because it doesn't make sense!" I say defensively.

"Have you even looked at the problems?" he asks. "It's not that hard."

"And I'm not that smart," I mutter under my breath, picking my pencil back up so that I can go back to doodling. I hate math. None of it makes any sense to me. It's the one way that I stood out from everyone else in class, is that my math grade is the worst. But with that, at least, there's never been much that I can do about it. I just can't make it all make sense in my head. Henry's tried to help me, but it seems as if I'm beyond all help.

Class finally, mercifully, ends. "You can leave your worksheets on your desk," Miss Blanchard, our teacher, tells us as we all put our books back in our bookbags and get ready to leave. "Henry and Cricket, can you two stay a minute?"

Henry and I glance at each other as we pick up our bookbags. I figure that this is probably going to be about my math grade. Miss Blanchard's offered to tutor me before, but it's bad enough that I feel so stupid around Henry. I don't want to keep feeling that stupid around Miss Blanchard too.

When all the other students are gone and Henry and I go up to Miss Blanchard's desk, though, she doesn't say anything about my math grade. "I have something for you guys," she says instead. She opens one of her desk drawers and pulls out two books large, leather bound books. "I found these in the back of my closet the other day," Miss Blanchard explains, pushing the smaller book off the bigger one so that they both lay beside each other flat on the desk. "I thought you two might like them."

Both of the books are made with brown leather covers with the lettering carefully etched in and gold detailing, and are the same size. But they're not the same book, I can tell that right away because one of them is called Once Upon a Time and the other is called Otherlands.

Henry and I hesitate, looking at each other, the same curious look in both our eyes. Then we look back down at the book. Henry opens the Once Upon a Time one first, thumbing through it. The words inside almost look hand written, the pictures hand painted. I run my fingertips lightly over one of the pages. It's not the normal sort of paper. It's almost like parchment or something. Henry and I glance at each other. It's such an odd book, how did Miss Blanchard get it? How did she get two of them?

Because when we turn our attention to Otherlands, we find that it's very similar to Once Upon a Time. The words inside are hand written, but the handwriting is different. The pictures are hand drawn, but they're a completely different style than the ones in Once Upon a Time. Two different people wrote these books, but one person bound them up, turned them into real books.

"They're yours to keep," Miss Blanchard says. I glance at Henry, then at her, surprised.

"Really?" Henry asks, just as surprised as me.

Miss Blanchard smiles, "Yeah. I think you two will get more use out of them than I would."

"Thank you, Miss Blanchard," Henry smiles, closing Once Upon a Time and scooping it up.

"Thank you," I echo, snatching up Otherlands. Henry and I both put the books in our bags, him taking Once Upon a time and me taking Otherlands, deciding without having to say anything that we'll look at them later, once we get to our secret spot.

Fifteen minutes later, Henry and I are sitting on the wood of the decrepit, abandoned castle play ground, legs crossed, knees just touching each other, backpacks abandoned to the side, books open in our laps.

"These are nothing like the fairy tales I've read before," Henry says. "Snow White's a bandit. And she first meets the prince when she steals from him."

"Really?" I lean forward, looking up from my book to look at his. "What'd she steal?"

"An engagement ring," He turns the book to give me a better look at the picture that shows Snow White holding a leather pouch and a ring. "Prince Charming was supposed to marry King Midas's daughter."

"I never heard _that_ version of the story," I agree with his previous statement as I look back at my book.

"What's yours say?" At some point, it was unconsciously and automatically decided that Once Upon a Time is Henry's, and Otherlands is mine.

"It's...information, like. There's a map of the Enchanted forest, and it has where everyone lived. The Evil Queen, Snow White, the dwarves, Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty, people from fairy tales that I've never even heard of too. And there are other worlds in here too, like Wonderland and Neverland and some other places I've never heard of. It even has creatures."

"So my book tells about the people and yours tells about where they live?"

"I guess so." Neither of us say anything else for a few minutes, reading our books. But after a while, I say, "I wonder how Miss Blanchard got them though."

Henry shrugs, not even looking up, "She said they were buried in the back of her closet. Probably one of her parents or something that she got without realizing it."

"Or..." I let my voice trail off. Because it's a silly idea, isn't it?

Henry looks up and at me, "Or what?"

"What if someone put them there on purpose for her to find?" I look at him. "For her to give to us?"

Henry just looks at me for a minute, but it's not a look like he thinks I'm crazy. He's actually considering that possibility. Then he looks back down at his book, but he's not reading it this time. He's just looking at it. "Why do you think someone would do that?" he wonders after a little while.

"Because...they want us to know something. I don't know what though."

Henry looks back at me though, "Maybe they want us to know it's all real."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Mystery of Storybrooke**

"I've figured it all out," Henry says, coming out of the ice cream shop. As he sits down beside me, he hands me a medium cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream, my favorite.

"Henry..." I start. I hate when he buys me ice cream, but I've protested it so many times, he doesn't even acknowledge the protests anymore. Henry buying me ice cream whenever we go to the ice cream parlor is just one of those things now. It was unspoken by him, never officially decided, but in the end it's just as much a fact as our friendship.

So, because it's just a fact that he'll buy me ice cream no matter how many times I try to tell him he doesn't have to, he continues talking as he sits down next to be on the curb, not even giving me the chance this time. He sets his own ice cream, rocky road, next to him on the sidewalk so that he can pull his Once Upon a Time book out of his bag. "Everyone in Storybrooke's a character." I nod, because we'd already established that one. We've had our books for weeks now, so it's been discussed at length. "They all got here because of the curse that the Evil Queen cast because she was mad at Snow White and Prince Charming. So everyone here's from the Enchanted Forest, but none of them know it yet."

"I'm waiting for the new bit," I say, scooping up a spoonful of my ice cream and popping it into my mouth. Just because I don't like when Henry buys it from me doesn't mean I'm going to let it go to waste and make _him_ feel bad about it.

"The new part is the Savior," Henry starts. I just look at him, waiting for him to continue. With his ice cream now in one hand, he pushes the book over so that it's sitting half in my lap and half in his. "I read it last night," he points to the page. "It says that when she's 28, the Savior will return to Storybrooke and break the curse. Everyone's memories will come back."

"And time will go on," I say, looking up at the clock tower. It's been stuck on the same time for as long as I've been in Storybrooke. I asked Henry about it once, and he said it's been broken for as long as he could remember. Which could only mean one thing.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it," I turn my attention back to Henry. "Nobody ever changes here, nobody grows up except you and me."

"They don't?" he frowns, confused.

"Maybe you don't see it because of the spell. Spells can alter perceptions, it says so in Otherlands."

"Then how come it doesn't alter your perception?" he asks.

"I think it did. I never noticed it before last week, before I drew this on me," I pull up one side of my jeans enough to show Henry the symbol I drew on my leg last week, just a little bit above my ankle. It's a strange sort of symbol, looking something like an eye and something like a mirror all at the same time. "After I drew that, I started noticing a lot more things. Like, nobody knows Mr. Gold's first name. And the apple tree in your backyard, it never _not_ has apples, that's not normal. And nobody changes here, ever. And every day, the same things happen. Everyone goes the same way and does the same thing and we always listen to the same lessons in school."

"Are you serious?" Henry's eyes widen.

I nod, "That must be part of the curse. Time's standing still here because of it. So nobody can remember anything, and nobody does anything different, and nobody knows that nobody does anything different. And the thing is, I noticed, other than you, only one other person in town does different things."

"You," Henry says, sure of it.

I shake my head, then nod, "Well, yes, me too, but even that's just because I'm friends with you and always following you around. The only reason I do different things is because you do different things. Your mom, Henry. She's the only other one who does different things. And sometimes the things she says, it's like she's talking about something else, some other place entirely. Like she's talking about the Enchanted Forest and things she did there!"

"But if Mom's the only other person who's different...that would make her the Evil Queen!"

"Exactly," I nod. "And to break the curse, we have to figure out who the Savior is."

Henry shakes his head, looking down at his book and flipping forwards through the pages. "It's nobody in Storybrooke. I know who it is, I just don't know where they are. Between the two of us, we know everyone here. Look," he stops on a page. "The Savior is Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, Emma. They sent her away in a wardrobe."

"Like Narnia," I smile. "Narnia's in Otherlands too."

Henry smiles too, "Except this wardrobe didn't lead to Narnia. It led to here. Well, not Storybrooke, but this world. I'm not sure exactly where."

"So Snow White and Prince Charming sent Emma through the none-Narnia wardrobe...and then what? What happened to her then?"

"I don't know," Henry shrugs, looking at me. "That's the last the book talks about Emma. She goes through the wardrobe, and then the curse hits. That's the end of the book."

I sigh, "Well _that's_ annoying." I look back up at the clock tower as silence falls over the both of us. Henry looks at his book while I stare up at the broken clock tower.

"My mom's name is Emma," Henry says after a minute. I look at him again.

"Your mom's name is Regina..." I say slowly.

"No, my biological mom," Henry explains. "I'm adopted. My mom told me once that my biological mom's name is Emma."

"So, your biological mom might be the Savior! Do you know where she is?"

Henry shakes his head, "Mom never told me anything other than her name, and I think she only told me that much because I wouldn't stop bugging her for a while."

"Then we have to find out more," I shake my head.

"What about Otherlands? Is there anything in there about my mom?"

I shake my head, "Otherlands is mostly about the other worlds, maps and informational stuff. It's almost like a textbook, except way cooler."

Ms. Mills' car pulls up to the curb on the other side of the street, and her passenger side window rolls down. "Henry!" She calls. "Come on, time to go home!"

"Want a ride?" Henry asks, like he always does when his mom picks him up.

I shake my head, "No, I actually think I'm going to go to city hall. I'll try to find out what I can about your biological mom."

"You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?" Henry figured out within a week of meeting me that I have a tendency to break rules and go places I shouldn't.

"I'll be fine," I assure him as his mom calls again, " _Henry!_ "

"I'm coming!" he calls back to her, closing his book and putting it into his backpack. He's leaving earlier than he usually has to today, because ever since he told Ms. Mills about the book and about our theory that everyone in Storybrooke was a character from it, she's been making him go talk to Dr. Hopper once a week, the town therapist.

"Be careful, okay?" Henry says as he stands up, turning to throw his empty ice cream cup into the outdoor trash can. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." I watch Henry jog across the street and get into Ms. Mills' car. She doesn't greet me, doesn't even smile at me, she just looks at me with barely restrained annoyance, before Henry closes the door and buckles his seat belt and she can drive away and completely ignore the fact that I even exist again. I think she thinks its my fault that Henry's on this fairy tale kick. That he's on to her.

As soon as the car turns the corner and is out of sight, I sigh, the loneliness I almost always feel washing over me again. When Henry's around, it's easier to forget, or to not care. But when he's gone, there's nothing to distract me, no one to make me think, for even a moment, that I'm anything other than completely useless, stupid, and alone.

I just sit there on the curb for another minute or two, wallowing in the hollowness of the silence, before I pick myself up, toss my own empty ice cream cup in the trash can, sling my bag over one shoulder, and head towards Henry and my's secret castle. Once there, I just sit on the wood of it and wait for night to fall.

When it does, I pick my backpack back up, putting it over both my shoulders this time, and make my way back into the main part of town, then to city hall. There's an alarm in the building. I've seen the button panel the few times that I've been here with Henry. So whatever I end up doing, I'll have to do it fast.

I don't break in right away. I peer through one of the windows, looking around Ms. Mills' office for where whatever information she might have about Henry's biological mother would be. I see file cabinets. That's probably my best option. But there's also a chance that she keeps information like that on her computer instead, and that would take much, much longer, since I've never used a computer before and wouldn't have even a remote idea how to find information kept on it.

"Find what you need, dearie?" a voice says behind me, making me jump and spin around.

"Mr. Gold!" I gasp.

"Cricket!" he mock-gasps in return before smiling in a scary way. "Looking for something?"

"I...I just..." I stutter, not knowing how to get out of this, not knowing what to say. Mr. Gold owned the antique shop - and I've gone in there more times than I can count, just looking around at all the beautiful and foreign things he has in there. Things that almost seem like they're from another world...

"Mr. Gold..." I ask hesitantly. "D-Do you...do you know anything, um, a-about Henry's mom?"

"I know a great deal about our mayor," Mr. Gold replies easily.

"No, no," I shake my head. "I-I mean...I mean his, um, his biological mom."

"Ah," Mr. Gold takes a step closer to me. "I see," he says strangely. But then he doesn't say anything else.

"See...what, sir?" I ask hesitantly. Mr. Gold always seems to know more than anyone else. Maybe more than he should. Sometimes I think he knows everything. Does he? "Mr. Gold, do...do you...I mean..."

"Do I what, dearie?" he probes.

"Do you know?" I blurt before I can chicken out and run away. Mr. Gold's one of the scariest people in Storybrooke. There's something dark about him, very dark and scary.

"Do I know what, dearie?" he asks oddly, with a strange sort of smile. I can't bring myself to ask him anything else, or say anything else. Because something about the way he's looking at me...it makes me think that he _does_ know. He knows what I'm talking about, he knows about Storybrooke's curse, he knows about the Savior...he knows...everything...

"I'd check in the S's, if I were you," he says, pointing briefly behind me, towards the window I was peering into before he left.

"I'm sorry?" I ask, puzzled.

"Goodnight, Cricket," he winks, and then he turns and walks away, using his walking stick to support his bad leg. I watch him go, more confused than I think I've ever been. Once Mr. Gold's gone, I find myself almost wondering if he was even there to begin with.

"Check the S's," I echo what he said. Was he trying to help me? I turn and look back into Ms. Mills' office. Shrugging to myself, I step closer so that I can push the window open. The sensors on the security alarm must only be on the doors, though, because nothing happens when I open the window. That's not very smart. But, I guess, in a town where you have control over everything and everyone, I guess she doesn't really have to worry about theft or anything.

I go over to the file cabinet first, silently praying that what I'm looking for is in here. I skip down to the drawer with the S's in it, following Mr. Gold's advice on a hunch. I have to squint and peer closely, since my only illumination is the light from the moon and the stars coming in through the windows. But after a few minutes, amazingly, I find what I'm looking for. "Swan, Emma."

Smiling proudly, I take all the papers out of the file and stuff them into my backpack. Finally, I've done something useful, something right. In here, there'll be information about Henry's biological mother, maybe the Savior. All I have to do is give them to Henry when we go back to the castle after school tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Finding Emma**

"Okay, so look what I found," I pull the papers out of my backpack as Henry and I sit down in the castle. "Your mom's name is Emma Swan. She was in the foster system her whole life until she turned 18 and aged out of it, and there's absolutely no record of her parents, her eight-year-old brother brought her in, but they could never find anything about either of them in the system. No missing persons reports or anything to tell where these two kids came from." I pause, looking back at the first of the papers, the one that has all the current information. "She lives in Boston now, only like four hours away. She's so close, Henry."

"How did you get all this?" Henry asks cautiously.

I just look at him, knowing that he doesn't want to know the answer. The few times that Henry's found out about some of the bad things I do, he's made it clear that he hates that I do them. I don't want to hear that again, I don't want this success ruined by another failure. "What's it matter?" I finally ask, almost desperately. "I got the information you wanted, we can go find your mom now, we can save Storybrooke!" Please, just let _one_ thing I've done be completely right, please.

"Wait, you can't come," Henry tells me.

My mouth opens, but at first, nothing comes out. My throat closes up and my chest hurts. "What?" I finally manage to ask, somehow forcing myself to sound normal despite my anxiety.

"You're part of the curse, which means if you leave Storybrooke, something could happen. You could lose all your memory or you could not be allowed to come back or something. Nobody's ever left Storybrooke."

"Oh," I nod, glancing down. "Right. Yeah, of course." It's an excuse, I know. He just doesn't want me to come. But Henry's nice, so he'll tell me something logical, figuring I'll believe it and let him go alone, without me, without question. So I don't question. He doesn't want to be my friend anymore, that's fine. I knew it would happen at some point.

So the next day, in the morning, when Henry and I are supposed to be walking together to school, we walk to the town line instead. I stop just inside it, following Henry's instructions not to cross it.

"What are you going to tell my mom if she asks you anything?" he asks.

I shrug, "Probably that I thought you were grounded. She grounds you a lot lately, it's valid."

Henry nods, "Just don't make her too mad, okay? She might curse you again." _And do what_? I think. There's not exactly anything that she could take from me that I haven't already lost or don't already lack. But I don't say any of this to Henry. "I told her that I'm sleeping over at your house tonight, just in case, so hopefully she won't ask any questions. I'll see you soon, okay?" he smiles and waves as he turns and walks away, crossing the state line. I smile back at him, blinking back tears so that he doesn't see them, as I watch him leave Storybrooke and me.

I stand there on the edge of town, crossing my arms tightly against me as a chilling wind blows, and watch him go until he rounds a bend in the road and is out of sight. He'll have to walk for a while, until he can either get a ride or find one of the smaller towns closer to Storybrooke. We checked a state map. At worst, he'll be walking for about 2-3 hours, we estimated. He took water and snacks in his backpack, as well as the Once Upon a Time book.

In my backpack, the Otherlands book seems to get heavier. It's all I have now. Just me and my book.

Once Henry's out of sight, I turn around and walk back to the main part of town. I don't go to school though. I end up skipping and going to the castle, sitting in the damp sand under it and finally letting myself cry, nails digging into my arms until I draw blood, and then continuing to dig until I cause long, deep gashes. And I don't care, because none of it helps at all. My heart still hurts because, once again, someone's walked away from me.

Eventually, though, I calm down. I don't know how long it takes, but after a while, I run out of tears. Leaving my jacket and my backpack under the castle, I walk over to the edge of the water to wash the blood off my arms and clean my face.

The next day, there's no school. But I sling my backpack over my shoulders and leave the castle. Whenever Henry does come back, which will probably be any time now, at worst, and when he does it won't take him long to want to go to the castle, which was his escape from his mom way before it was my escape from everyone. So I head to the forest, where I know there won't be anyone to bother.

It's not until Monday that I see Henry again, in the morning on my way to school. He catches up to me as I pass Granny's diner.

"Cricket!" I keep walking, but Henry runs and catches up with me just as I get to the gate in front of the diner. "Cricket, I've been looking all over for you! You weren't at the castle, it was weird."

"Sorry," I look down, not really knowing what to say. Suddenly, I'm very aware of the bandages I wrapped around my forearms yesterday - the gashes don't bleed anymore, but they're extremely sensitive of fabric rubbing against them, so I have to keep something tight against them.

"Are you okay?" Henry asks.

"How did, um, how did the search go?" I ask, trying to come off as more polite than curious.

"It was a mess, Cricket, you should have been there! I found my mom, I found Emma, and she brought me back here, and now my mom's like really territorial over me...I tried coming to tell you, there was so much you should have seen! Where have you been?"

I shrug, looking down, "Just busy, I guess."

"But you're never busy," Henry looks at me, confused. "Are you sure you're okay? You're starting to act like you did before."

"Before?" I can't help but ask, too confused by his words.

"Before we became friends," he clarifies. "Are you mad because you couldn't come with me to Boston?"

"Of course not," I shake my head. At least that, I don't have to lie about. Henry doesn't say anything for a little bit after that, and I just stand there awkwardly, not knowing whether to stay or go anymore.

But just as I decide that he probably wants me to go, he asks, "You want to meet her?"

"Are...are you sure?" I ask hesitantly.

Instead of answering, though, Henry frowns, "This is because I couldn't take you with me, isn't it?"

"I told you, I'm not mad, you know I don't lie."

"Mad's different than upset though," he argues. "Cricket, I'm still your friend. I still want to hang out with you. I didn't want anything to happen to you, that's why I didn't let you come with me. If it weren't for the curse, you would have come with me. I didn't want anything to happen to you, though, that's the only reason I didn't want you to come, I promise. Now can we get past this? I really want you to meet my mom. She thinks I'm making you up too."

I can't help but laugh a little bit, quickly wiping away tears. "Fine. Wait, what do you mean too?"

"She doesn't believe in the curse," Henry explains.

I shrug, "Well she will eventually. I saw the clock tower started moving again yesterday."

"Exactly! Oh, and Mom stole my book," Henry swings his backpack around and pulls a few pages from Once Upon a Time out. "Can you put these in your book? I didn't want Mom to find them."

I take the pages, looking through to see which ones they are. These are the pages about the Savior breaking the curse. "She wouldn't want to steal the book if we weren't right."

"That's what I thought too. Let's go inside, Emma's staying in a room at the inn."

I nod, pulling my backpack off my shoulders so that I can carefully slide the Once Upon a Time pages in between the pages of Otherlands. "She's not going to come after my book next, is she?" I wonder. "Ms. Mills, I mean."

Henry shakes his head, "I never told her about your book. I shouldn't have even told her about mine."

"No, you shouldn't have," I agree as we jump up the steps to Granny's diner, and Henry pushes the door open ahead of us.

"That's her," he whispers, pointing to a woman in with long blonde hair and a red leather jacket sitting at the counter. But instead of going over, Henry waves me over to a booth and orders us both hot chocolates, ignoring my protests as always. He gets his with cinnamon in it, and gets mine with a little bit of mint in it, even though I didn't tell him to. When I look at him, eye narrowed, he just smiles at me and says simply, "I know you."

"Here you go, kids," Ruby, Granny's granddaughter, smiles as she sets the mugs down in front of us.

"Thanks, Ruby," Henry thanks her. "Can you give one to Emma too please? With cinnamon. And don't tell her it's from me."

"Sure thing, kid," she smiles as she turns and walks away, back behind the counter.

"You're not going to tell her we're here?" I look at Henry.

"She'll find out," he says simply. I just shrug, taking a sip of hot chocolate. It _is_ really good with mint in it. This is the first time I've ever had mint in my hot chocolate, because the few times that Henry's bought me hot chocolate, I've never even asked him for it, so I definitely wasn't going to ask him for mint in it too. "Look," Henry points to Emma and Ruby. Ruby's just setting a mug of hot chocolate down in front of Emma. "Come here," he waves me over to his side of the table. From there, I can watch Emma without having to turn around.

"Thank you, but I did not order that," Emma says.

"Yeah, I know," Ruby smiles. "You have an admirer."

Emma looks around, but she stops when she sees Storybrooke's sheriff. She picks up the mug of hot cocoa and walks over to the sheriff's table, setting the cocoa back down in front of him.

"Ah, so you decided to stay," the sheriff says, sitting back and looking up at Emma. Henry and I glance at each other.

"Observant. Important for a cop," Emma comments.

"It's good news for our tourist business, it's bad for our local signage." A pause, then the sheriff adds, "It's...it's a joke. Because you ran over our sign."

"She ran over the sign?" I hiss, looking at Henry.

"She tried to leave town, but a wolf ran out in the middle of the road, so she swerved into the sign instead," he explains quickly and quietly, since they're only a few tables away. I almost laugh.

"Look," Emma says to the sheriff, "the cocoa was a nice gesture, and I am impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon in my chocolate because most people don't, but I am not here to flirt. So thank you, but no thank you."

"I didn't send it," the sheriff tells her before she can turn and walk away.

"I did," Henry finally speaks up, and Emma and the sheriff both look over at us, Emma having to turn to do it. "I like cinnamon too," he smiles.

"Don't you have school?" Emma asks, stepping over to us.

"Duh, we're ten. Walk us," Henry smiles. The two of us quickly train our mugs before standing up, grabbing our backpacks. "By the way, _this_ is Cricket," he introduces me pointedly.

"I figured. I'm Emma," Emma introduces herself as she opens the door and ushers us through it.

"I figured," I echo her words.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Fairy Tales' Curse**

"So what's the deal with you and your mom?" Emma asks as we walk towards the school.

"It's not about us," Henry says, "It's about her curse. We have to break it. Luckily, I have a plan."

"You do?" I look at him.

"You weren't around," he says to me before going on, "Step one: identification. I call it Operation Cobra."

"Cobra?" I question again, still looking at him.

"You weren't around!" he says defensively.

"That has nothing to do with fairy tales," Emma points out.

"Exactly. It's a code name to throw the Queen off the trail."

"But _cobra_?" I question again.

"You weren't around!" he points out again. Then he says to Emma, "She's the creative one of the team." I look away, down at my feet, feeling my cheeks turn pink.

"So, everyone here is a fairy tale character. They just don't know it," Emma clarifies.

"That's the curse," Henry explains. "Time's been frozen. Until you got here. Hey! Where did you get that?!" I look up to see that Emma has an apple. My eyes widen.

"Your mom," Emma says obliviously.

"Don't eat that!" he snatches the apple from her and throws it over his shoulder.

"Okay...uh..." Emma looks at him oddly. "Alright. What about their pasts?"

"They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything, and you'll see."

"Alright then, I'm asking you," Emma turns her attention to me, and I stumble, tripping over my own feet for a second. "You're part of this fairy tale thing, right? Cursed? What do you remember about your past?"

"My really clear memory is...is meeting Henry a few months ago," I say nervously, embarrassed to be telling Henry that my first clear memory is of him.

"And before that?" Emma questions. I just shake my head. Before that, moments are sketchy. I just know general stuff, like that I've always been awkward around people and that I've always been basically invisible to them and that I've always lived where I live. I remember having a life, I just don't remember it. I don't remember any birthdays or anything like that.

"Are you lying to me?" Emma asks.

I shake my head as Henry says, "She doesn't lie. Ever. Use your super-power if you don't believe us." Before I can ask, Henry turns to me, "She can always tell when someone's lying."

"So," Emma says, "for decades, people have been walking around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious."

"I knew you'd get it," Henry smiles. "That's why we need you. You're the only one who can stop her curse."

"Because I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"Yes. And right now, we have the advantage. My mom doesn't know that part. I never told her, and I took out the end. The part with you in it. Cricket," he turns to me, but I'm already pulling my backpack in front of me, pulling Otherlands out and opening it to take out the torn pages Henry gave me earlier.

"Is that another copy of the book?" Emma asks as Henry takes the pages from me and passes them to her.

"No," I shake my head, putting the book away again.

"Hers is different, but we think it was made by the same person. Anyway, look," Henry points to the pages. "Your mom is Snow White."

"Kid..." Emma starts.

"I know the hero never believes at first. If they did, it wouldn't be a very good story. If you need proof, take them. Read them. But whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are, then it would be bad. We've got to go. But we'll find you later, and we can get started. I knew you'd believe me!" Henry and I start running towards the school's doors.

"I never said I did!" Emma calls after us. We both stop, turning back around to look at her.

"Why else would you be here?" I wonder. Then Henry grabs my hand, turning us both around, and we run up the stairs and into the school.

"You really think she believes us?" Henry asks once we're inside.

"I'm not sure..." I admit reluctantly.

"But you said that's why she's still here," he points out.

"I think she's still here because she wants to be your mom," I look at him. "But...I think she wants to believe in the curse. But she's making herself not believe because she's a grown up, and grown ups aren't supposed to believe in this kind of stuff."

"I'll never stop believing in this kind of stuff," Henry says, shaking his head. "No matter how old I get."

"That'd be silly if you did, wouldn't it? Growing up in a fairy tale town and not believing in them," I giggle.

He laughs, "Even if I grew up in Boston, I'd still believe!"

About halfway through the day, Mayor Mills appears in the doorway. "May I speak with my son?" she asks Miss Blanchard.

"We're in the middle of a lesson," Miss Blanchard says. "Is it important?"

"Do you think I'd be here if it wasn't?" Ms. Mills answers in clear annoyance. Henry sighs as I roll my eyes. But Miss Blanchard lets Henry go outside with Ms. Mills, leaving me alone.

I sit nervously and anxiously when Henry's gone, convinced as I always am that everyone's staring at me and whispering about me. The rest of class seems to go on forever until the bell rings, and Henry comes rushing back to me less than a minute later.

"Emma's been arrested!" he says.

"What?!" I drop my school book.

He drops his voice so that only I can hear and adds, "She broke into Dr. Hopper's office, she was gathering intel for Operation Cobra!"

"Cobra?" I question again.

"You weren't around!" he almost groans. "Come on, we have to get her out."

"How?" I question, pulling my packed bookbag over one shoulder. Henry considers that for a minute before going running over to Miss Blanchard.

"Miss Blanchard, we need your help," he tells her.

A few minutes later, Henry and I run into the sheriff's station, Miss Blanchard training behind us at a slower pace.

"Henry! Cricket!" the sheriff looks at us in surprise. "What are you two doing here?"

"His mother told him what happened," Miss Blanchard explains as she comes in.

"And he told Cricket, of course," the sheriff smiles.

"Of course she did," Emma almost sighs. "Henry, I don't know what she said-"

"You're a genius!" Henry grins before she can finish.

"What?" she blinks at him.

"We know what you were up to. You were gathering intel for Operation Cobra."

"Cobra," I shake my head, sighing.

"You weren't around!" Henry shoots at me.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost," the sheriff says.

"It's need to know, Sheriff," Henry informs him. "And all you need to know is that Miss Blanchard's going to bail her out."

"You are?" Emma looks at Miss Blanchard. "Why?"

"Because," Miss Blanchard glances at me and Henry before looking back at Emma, "I trust you."

"Well, if you can uncuff me, I have something to do," Emma says to the sheriff. Once she's uncuffed, she storms out of the sheriff's station, a woman on a mission. Henry and I glance at each other before bolting off to follow her, Henry yelling a thanks to Miss Blanchard behind us.

Emma gets in her car, but I know immediately where she's going, so I lead Henry across town, through several short cuts, until we're both crouched in the bushes, watching Emma take a chainsaw to Ms. Mills' prized apple tree in their backyard. Henry and I watch with wide eyes, amazed and surprised.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ms. Mills asks as she storms out the mansion. I think this is actually the closest I've ever been to Henry's house.

"Picking apples," Emma says shortly, turning off the chainsaw and tossing it to the side.

"You're out of your mind," Ms. Mills says.

"No," Emma shakes her head shortly, "you are if you think a shoddy frame ob's enough to scare me off. You're going to have to do better than that. You come after me one more time, I'm coming back for the rest of this tree. Because, sister, you have no idea what I am capable of." She turns and walks away as she adds, "Your move."

Henry and I stay hidden where we are until Emma's gone and Ms. Mills is back inside. Then, I shake my head, almost laughing, "Your mom is so cool."

Henry smiles, "Yeah."

On Thursday, Henry and I head over to the Mayor's office like we always do, so that Henry can go to dinner with his mom before his therapy session. I walk him inside, like I always do. Just outside the office door, though, we stop, hearing Emma and Ms. Mills talking inside. "What are you doing here?" Miss. Mills is asking.

"I know I'm not a mother," Emma answers. "I think that's pretty self-evident. But I did have him. And I can't help that he got in my head and I want to make sure he's okay. The more you try to push me out, the more I want to be here. Especially after seeing how troubled he is."

I carefully peek into the room. Ms. Mills is sitting at her desk, like almost always, and Emma's standing with her back to the door in front of it.

"You think he's troubled?" Ms. Mills asks, and I swear I can see her eyes flit over to me. I immediately shrink back behind the door again.

"Well, he's in therapy. And I only got through a couple pages of his shrink's notes before you had me arrested. But putting all that aside, he thinks everyone in this town is a fairy tale character."

"And you don't?" Ms. Mills questions.

"How can I? The poor kid can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality and it's only getting worse. It's crazy."

Henry pushes past me before I can stop him, entering the office. "You think I'm crazy?" he asks Emma. I linger behind him, glaring at Ms. Mills. This was done on purpose, I'm sure of it. Ms. Mills takes no notice of me, though. She never does, the few times I've been around her.

"Henry..." Emma starts, turning around. Henry doesn't listen though, turning back around, running past me again and running out of the office, out of the building. "How long were you guys standing there?" Emma asks me.

"She doesn't talk," Ms. Mills says knowingly.

Just to spite her, I look up at Emma and say, "Long enough." Ms. Mills blinks in surprised. I turn and run out, going after Henry. I'm a fast runner, so I catch up to him even before he gets to the castle.

"You said she believed me!" Henry cries.

"She does, I'm sure of it," I say quickly, hoping to stop him from behind mad at me. "I told you, it's a grown up thing. Everywhere else in the world, grown ups don't believe in this stuff, they're not supposed to. It's why all the fairy tale books in the library are under the fiction section. The grown ups don't know, they're too closed minded. But she believes you, I'm sure of it. She's just telling herself that she doesn't, but she does, I'm sure of it, Henry, I promise it," I say almost desperately. But then I stop myself, looking down. I shouldn't sound so desperate. If Henry's mad at me, if he doesn't want to be my friend anymore because I was wrong, then I should just let him.

"I don't even want to go home now," Henry says angrily, kicking the sand. We're only a few feet away from the castle now. "Or to therapy."

"Did you hear what Emma said?"

"That I'm crazy," he mutters angrily.

"No, the shoddy frame job part. Ms. Mills got her arrested on purpose, she's trying to scare Emma away."

"Then she wasn't gathering intel for Operation Cobra?"

"Cobra," I whine. That's such a terrible name!

"You weren't around!" Henry says again, almost laughing. I smile, liking that he's less angry now. "If you don't like it, then maybe that'll teach you to disappear on me!"

I grin, but continue, "She was gathering information, but I don't think she was breaking any rules by doing it. She said she had Dr. Hopper's files, so Dr. Hopper maybe gave them to her, and once Ms. Mills found out, she told Sheriff that she stole them and made Dr. Hopper agree.

" _That's_ crazy."

" _That's_ the mayor," I shrug. "It makes sense."

"It does," Henry agrees before looking up at the clock tower and sighing. "I have to go to therapy now. Come with me?" I nod, agreeing. It's not the first time I've gone with Henry to his therapy. Whenever he's having a really bad fight with his mom, he has me come with him to therapy to be a buffer. So Henry and I leave the castle and go to Dr. Hopper's office. Ms. Mills isn't there, thankfully. I sit out in the hallway while Henry goes in, like I always do, and pull Otherlands out of my bookbag to read as I wait.

About half an hour later, I hear footsteps coming down the hallway. I look up just as Emma rounds the corner. "Oh, hey," she blinks at me in surprise. I just look up at her, not saying anything. "Okay then. Is Henry in there?" he points to the door. I nod, so she steps past me and opens the door without even bothering to walk into the room. I scramble to my feet, holding my book against my chest, and stand in the doorway, watching.

"Miss Swan! Look, I can explain. The Mayor forced me to-" Dr. Hopper starts.

"I know," Emma cuts him off. Henry looks at me, confused, but I just shrug, just as clueless and surprised as he is. "Don't worry about it. I get it." Then she turns to Henry. "Henry, I'm sorry."

"I don't want to talk to you," Henry says.

"Miss Swan, if she knew you were here-" Dr. Hopper starts again.

"Forget her!" I blurt, surprising all of them, even Henry. "Let her talk," I say, more quietly. Henry smiles at me before turning his attention to Emma when she turns back around to look at him. "Henry, there is one simple reason I stayed here. You. I wanted to get to know you."

"Told you," the words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.

"You think I'm crazy," Henry says.

"No, I think the curse is crazy," Emma says. "And it is. But that doesn't mean that it isn't true. It is a lot to ask anyone to believe in, but there are a lot of crazy things in this world. So what do I know. Maybe it is true."

"But you told my mom..." Henry starts.

"What she needed to hear," Emma says before he can finish. "What I do know, is that if the curse is real, the only way to break it is by tricking the Evil Queen into thinking that we are non-believers. Cause that way, she's not on to us. Isn't that what Operation Cobra-"

"Cobra," I whine quietly.

Emma almost laughs, but continues, "Isn't that what it's all about? Throwing her off the trail?"

"That's brilliant!" Henry smiles.

"I've read the pages and," she pulls the folded up pages out of her pocket, "Henry, you are right. They are dangerous. There is only one way to make sure that she never sees them." She throws the pages into the fire in the fireplace. I jump, and hide Otherlands behind my back. She's not burning even one page of _my_ book. "Now we have the advantage."

"I knew you were here to help us," Henry smiles.

"That's right, kid, I am. And nothing, not even a curse, is going to stop that."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Prince Charming**

"I don't like hospitals," I mutter under my breath.

"Why not?" Henry asks.

"I don't know. Sick people, I think," I glance pointedly at the unconscious man lying in the bed in front of us. "Is John Doe really his name?" Henry shrugs.

"Henry, Cricket, we could really use your help with the decorations," Miss Blanchard says from behind us, from the main patient room. John Doe has his own little private room in the back, since he's the only one in a coma.

"Is Mr. Doe going to be okay, Miss Blanchard?" Henry asks we follow Miss Blanchard into the small privet room.

"His name's not John Doe, honey," Miss Blanchard says. "That's just what they call people when they don't know who they are."

"Even girls?" I ask.

Miss Blanchard smiles, "No, sweetie, they call girls Jane Doe."

"Do you know who he is?" Henry asks.

"Nope. Just bring him flowers on my rounds," she sets the small vase of flowers in her hand down on the bedside table.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Miss Blanchard says almost thoughtfully. "He's been like this for as long as I've been volunteering."

"Does he have any family or friends?"

"No one's claimed him," Miss Blanchard shakes her head.

"So he's all alone..." I say quietly, looking over at John Doe.

"Yeah..." Miss Blanchard agrees. "It's quite sad."

"You sure you don't know him?" Henry asks again.

"Course I'm sure. Come on, you shouldn't be in here," she ushers us out of the small room, following us out and closing the door behind her.

"It's backwards," I say quietly to Henry once Miss Blanchard's attention is somewhere else.

"What's backwards?" he asks.

"Snow White's supposed to be the sleeping one," I smile. Henry looks at me, then over at John Doe.

"Prince Charming has a scar just like that one John Doe has," he smiles.

"We found Prince Charming!" I grin.

After school, Henry and I go to the castle like we always do. "Hey guys," she climbs up to sit on the other side of Henry.

"We found your father, Prince Charming," Henry says.

"Henry..." Emma starts.

But Henry continues, "He's in the hospital, in a coma. See the scar?" he points to the picture on the page of Once Upon a Time he has the book open to. "He has one too."

"So?" Emma questions. "Lots of people have scars."

"Not in exactly the same place though," I shake my head. "It's like fingerprints, every one's unique."

"Exactly!" Henry smiles. "Don't you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart with the coma. Now they're stuck without each other. We have to tell Miss Blanchard we found her Prince Charming."

"Wouldn't Miss Blanchard be in the coma then?" Emma asks. "Since she's Snow White."

"She's already been in a coma," I reach across Henry to flip a few pages in his book while he holds it steady. "See? Now it's his turn."

Emma almost laughs, "So any time one soulmate ends up in a coma, the other will too eventually?"

"I hope not," I frown. "That would be stressful."

"Yeah, no kidding," Emma nods. "Look, telling someone their soulmate is in a coma is probably not helpful. Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse."

"But it's not unrealistic," I decide. "Everyone's going to get their happy ending this time. Even the villains."

"How do you know?" Henry asks me.

I look away, down towards the sand a few feet blow us, and swing my feet back and forth as I purse my lips. "I don't know. Because that's how it works, I think. Nobody's really bad, they just do bad things because they don't know what else to do. It's...it's not _really_ a curse. It's a second chance. For everyone."

"So you don't think my mom's bad?" Henry asks.

"I think...she's missing what makes her good," I nod. "It's not there anymore."

"What makes her good then?" Emma asks.

"The same thing that makes everyone good," I look at her. "Their heart."

"Okay, one thing at a time here," Emma decides.

"Okay, then what if I'm right?" Henry asks, looking at her again. "We know who they are. Now they have to know."

"And how do you intend to make that happen."

"By reminding him," I answer before Henry can. "He's in a coma, so he doesn't have curse memories. That means when he wakes up and remembers, he'll remember who he really is."

"We have to get Miss Blanchard to read their story to John Doe," Henry says.

"Okay," Emma nods.

"Okay?" Henry asks.

"Yeah. We'll do it. But we'll do it my way. Let me ask her."

"Deal," Henry smiles.

"Are you wearing the same clothes you came here in?" I ask, realizing that Emma's been in the same outfit since I met her.

She glances down at herself, "Well I didn't exactly come here planning to stay for so long. Or, at all, really."

"I have to go home," Henry says, standing up.

"I'll walk you," I start to stand up too.

"No, that's okay," Henry says quickly, so I slowly sit back down.

"Want me to drive you?" Emma offers.

"No, I like walking!" Henry refuses her too. We both watch as Henry puts Once Upon a Time in his bookbag, jumps down from the castle, and walks away.

"What about you?" Emma asks. "Shouldn't you be getting home too?"

I shake my head, "I think Ms. Mills is the strictest parent in all of Storybrooke."

Emma laughs shortly, "I believe that." Then she notices Otherlands sitting beside me. "What's that one?"

I pull the book into my lap, "Otherlands. It's more like a textbook than a storybook almost," I open it up to a random page. It's in the Enchanted Forest section. "It tells all about all the different worlds. Or, maybe not all of them, but some of them. The Enchanted Forest..."

"Where everyone from Storybrooke's supposed to be from," Emma says, and I nod.

"It also has Neverland and Wonderland. Wonderland's bigger than Neverland though, because it's got lots of weird creatures and stuff. But the Enchanted Forest's history section is the biggest, I think."

"Who are you supposed to be anyway? Which fairy tale character are you?" Emma asks.

"We don't know yet," I shake my head. "We don't know who _everyone_ is yet."

The next day, after school, Henry and I meet Emma at Granny's. He stole one of his mom's shirts so that Emma would finally have something to change into while we wait for Miss Blanchard.

"Thanks for the shirt," Emma says as she sits back down across the table from us. "Hey, is this your mother's?"

"She'll never notice," Henry says dismissively.

"Where does she think you are, anyway?"

"Playing Whac-A-Mole."

"And she bought that?" Emma asks almost skeptically.

"She wants to believe it, so she does," Henry shrugs.

"Oh, imagine that."

Miss Blanchard comes into the diner just then. "She's here!" Henry announces.

"Hey, don't get your hopes up. We're just getting started, okay?"

"He woke up," Miss Blanchard says as she comes over and sits next to Emma.

"What?" Emma asks in disbelief.

"I knew it!" Henry cheers.

"I mean, he didn't wake up wake up, but he grabbed my hand."

"He's remembering!"

"What did the doctor say?" Emma asks.

"That I imagined it," Miss Blanchard says. "But I'm not crazy, I know it happened."

"We have to go back. You have to read to him again!"

"Let's go," Miss Blanchard starts to get up, and me and Henry start to follow her.

"Wait, wait what?" Emma asks, apparently having fallen behind at some point.

"If I got through to him, if we made a connection…" Miss Blanchard starts.

"You don't believe…" Emma asks skeptically.

"That he's Prince Charming? Of course not. Somehow, some way, I touched him."

When we get to the hospital though, the sheriff and the doctor are standing together, talking.

"This is not good," I whisper quietly to Henry, grabbing onto his sleeve.

"Kids, you should stay back," the sheriff says as we get close.

"What's going on?" Miss Blanchard asks. "Is it John Doe? Is he okay?"

"He's missing," the sheriff says.

Regina comes out of John Doe's room and over to us. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demands at Emma before turning to Henry. "And you, I thought you were at the arcade. _Alone_ ," she flashes a glare at me, and I automatically take a step back, behind Henry. "Now you're lying to me?" she asks Henry.

"What happened to John Doe?" Miss Blanchard asks. "Did someone take him?"

"We don't know yet. His IVs were ripped out but there's no sign for sure there was a struggle," the sheriff tells us.

"What did you do?" Henry demands of the mayor.

"You think I had something to do with this?" she asks incredulously.

"Yes," I mutter under my breath, earning another glare from her.

"It is curious that the Mayor is here," Emma observes.

"I'm here because I'm his emergency contact," Mayor Mills says pointedly.

"You know him?" Miss Blanchard asks.

"I found him. On the side of the road years ago with no ID. I brought him here," she says haughtily.

"Mayor Mills saved his life," Dr. Whale adds.

"Will he be okay?" Miss Blanchard asks.

"Okay? The man's been on feeding tubes for years, on constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away or, quite honestly, 'okay' might be a pipe dream."

"Well then, let's quit yapping and start looking."

"That's what we're doing?" Mayor Mills turns on Emma. "Just stay out of this, dear. And since I clearly can't keep you away from my son, I guess I'm just going to have to keep my son away from you. Enjoy my shirt, because that's all you're getting. Sheriff, find John Doe. You heard Dr. Whale. Time is precious." She grabs Henry and practically pushes him out the door ahead of her, leaving me and Emma behind.

"I do not like her," I say needlessly.

"Smart kid," Emma comments.

"Doctor, how long between your rounds since you last saw him?" the sheriff asks Dr. Whale.

"Twelve hours or so," the doctor tells him.

"Then that's what we need to account for."

Emma, Miss Blanchard, the sheriff and the doctor start to walk away. I just stand where I am, not knowing what to do, now that Henry's not here for me to follow.

"You coming, kid?" Emma asks, in the doorway into another room. I jump a little bit, looking up, surprised. But then when she waves me over, I hurry to catch up to her, following the grown ups into a security room. Two people are already in there, sitting in two chairs.

"You two were the only employees on the floor last night, and you saw nothing?" the sheriff's asking them as we come in.

"Not a thing," one of them says.

"Did anyone walk by?" Emma asks.

"I didn't see nothing'," the second man says.

"Miss Blanchard, was there anything unusual you saw during your trip with your class?" the sheriff asks Miss Blanchard.

"I don't think so," Miss Blanchard shakes her head.

"Where are our decorations?" I ask, looking at the tape. All the grown ups look back at the tape.

"We're looking at the wrong tape," Emma says. "If this was the tape from last night, we'd see the decorations."

"You fell asleep again," the first man accuses the second man.

"You selling me out?" the second man asks.

"I ain't getting fired for this," the first man says.

"At least I don't drink on the job," the second man accuses.

"Gentlemen, enough," the sheriff cuts in, while I giggle quietly behind my sleeves. "Where's the real tape?"

They switch out the tape, and now our decorations appear on the screen, and John Doe's getting out of his bed and walking out a door.

"He walked out alone," Miss Blanchard breathes in relief. "He's okay."

"Four hours ago," Emma says, pointing to the time stamp. "Where does this door lead?"

"The woods," The first man says.

"We'll split up and search the woods," the sheriff says. "Cricket, you should go home."

I just stare at him, dead serious. I'm not going anywhere.

"Come on, kid, you can come with us," Emma says, and I follow behind her as all of us leave the hospital and go off in search for John Doe.

We follow a trail for a while, pretty deep into the woods. But then the trail runs out, and we stop.

"What is it?" Emma asks.

"The trail runs out here," the sheriff explains.

"You sure? Because I thought tracking was one of your skills.

"Just give me a second," The sheriff says as he looks around. "This is my world. I got it."

"Right. Sorry," Emma backs off.

"What does he mean his world? Isn't finding people your thing too?" Miss Blanchard asks Emma.

"Sure. Just, people I find usually run in places like Vegas. Not a lot hit the woods."

"That's an interesting job…finding people. How'd you fall into it?"

"Looking for people is just what I've done, for as long as I can remember."

"What made you start? Your parents? Henry told me that your…th-that you were from a similar situation to his own. Did you ever find them?"

Emma glances at me, and I have to press my lips together and look down to keep from laughing or smiling at all. "Depends who you ask," she says after a minute.

There's crack behind us, and I spin around to see Henry running down the hill, towards us. "Henry!" I yell.

"Did you find him yet?" Henry asks, breathing a little heavily. He probably ran the whole way here.

"No, not yet," Emma says. "You shouldn't be here.

"I can help. I know where he's going."  
"And where's that?" Miss Blanchard asks.

"He's looking for you," he tells her. "You're the one who woke him up. You're the last one he saw. He wants to find you!"

"Henry, it's not about me. I just…I think he's lost and confused. He's been in a coma for a long time."

"But he loves you!" Henry insists. "You need to stop chasing him and let him find you."

"Kid, you need to go home," Emma cuts in. "Where's your mom? She's going to kill me and then you…and then me again."

"She dropped me at the house. Then went right out," he says, glancing at me. I roll my eyes. Of course she did. She doesn't even make it _hard_ for Henry to sneak out.

"Well, we need to get you back immediately."

"No!" Henry and I both protest.

"Guys!" the sheriff calls from a little bit away before anything else can be said. We all rush over to him, Henry and I getting there first because we ran. On the ground is John Doe's hospital bracelet, with blood on it.

"Is that…" Miss Blanchard starts.

"Blood," Emma confirms.

We keep looking. The sheriff manages to pick up the trail again and we follow it down towards the river and the Toll Bridge.

"Where is he? Can you see him?" Miss Blanchard asks.

"The trail dies at the water line," the sheriff says, pointing to the end of the trail.

I look up and down the river as everyone else looks around us at the forest. "Over there!" I point when I spot him, just a little ways away, lying in the water.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Miss Blanchard cries as we all run towards him.

"I need an ambulance!" the sheriff says quickly into his radio. "At the old Toll Bridge, as soon as possible." When we get to John Doe, Miss Blanchard, the sheriff and Emma drag him out of the water and onto solid ground.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I found you!" Miss Blanchard cries.

"It's going to be okay," Emma says.

"Help's coming," the sheriff adds.

"Is he okay?" Henry asks.

"Guys," Emma's starting to tell us to go away, I can tell.

But Henry doesn't let her, he cuts her off, demanding, "Is he going to be okay?" Beside Henry, my heart's pounding with fear and I'm trying so hard not to cry.

"Guys, don't look, okay? Don't look," Emma tries to make us turn around. Henry _does_ make me turn around, grabbing me by my shoulders and turning me so that I'm facing him and in between him and the others.

"It'll be okay, Cricket," he says quietly, glancing between me and what's going on behind me. "It'll be okay, you'll see. She'll wake him up, just like he woke her up before."

Behind me, I can hear coughing. But I don't dare turn around. Not even when I hear a stranger's voice say, "You saved me."

"She did it," Henry says. "She did it, she woke him up! I told you!" Henry spins me around by my shoulders so I can see. John Doe's awake!"

"Who are you?" Miss Blanchard asks him.

"I don't know," John Doe says.

"It's okay," Miss Blanchard smiles. "You're going to be okay."

The Sheriff and Emma help John Doe up and the sheriff supports probably more than half his weight as we take him back to the hospital, where Dr. Whale and a nurse takes over, taking him back into his private room and checking him up, making sure he hasn't gotten hurt or anything.

As they do, a woman with blonde hair comes rushing in. "David! David, is that you?"

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Dr. Whale tries to push her out of the private room.

"Oh my god…" she's all but oblivious to him.

"Ma'am, you can't be in here," Dr. Whale tells her. "Please, you can't be in here right now."

"David…" she's still ignoring him, her eyes fixated on John Doe. Is David supposed to be his name?

"Who is that?" Miss Blanchard asks.

"His wife," Mayor Mills says just behind us. I grab Henry's wrist as we spin around to face the mayor. "His name is David Nolan. And that's his wife, Kathryn. And the joy on her face, well, it's put me in quite the forgiving mood," she turns and looks pointedly at Henry. "We'll talk about your insubordination later. Do you know what insubordination means?" she doesn't wait for an answer before she adds, "It means you're grounded."

Kathryn comes back out of David's private room and over to Emma and Miss Blanchard. "Thank you. Thank you for finding my David.

"Um…I-I don't understand," Miss Blanchard almost stutters. "You didn't…you didn't know that he was here in a coma?"

"A few years ago David and I were not getting along. It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and unsupportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave. And he did. And I didn't stop him. It was the worst mistake I ever made," Kathryn explains.

"You didn't go look for him?" Emma asks.

"I assumed he'd left town all this time. And now I know why I never heard from him. Now I get to do what I've wanted to do forever. Say I'm sorry. Now we get a second chance."

"That's wonderful," Miss Blanchard says, faking a smile.

Dr. Whale comes out of the private room, "Well, it's something of a miracle."

"He's okay?" Kathryn asks him.

"Ah, physical, he's on the mend," Dr. Whale tells us all. "His memory is another issue. It may take time, if at all."

"What brought him back?" Miss Blanchard asks.

"That's the thing. There's no explanation," Dr. Whale shakes his head. "Something just clicked in him." Henry and I exchange glances, smiling. _We_ know what happened.

"He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?" Emma asks.

"He woke up and he was delirious and his first instinct was to go find something, I guess," Dr. Whale answers.

I lean close to Henry so that I can whisper in his ear too quiet for anyone else to hear, "He was probably already running from the evil queen."

Henry laughs, causing Mayor Mills to look over. "What are you two whispering about?" she snaps.

"Nothing," Henry says, trying not to smile.

"Can I see him?" Kathryn asks.

"Yeah, of course," Dr. Whale steps aside so that she can go back into the private room.

"Let's go, Henry," Mayor Mills says sharply.

"Wait, my backpack!" Henry pulls out of my grip and runs over to grab his backpack, which is sitting on a chair near Miss Blanchard. They have a quick, quiet conversation that I can't hear before Mayor Mills says sharply, "Henry," and they leave.

"I'll be right back," Emma says determinedly and follows them out. I hesitate, but end up running after them, wanting to know what's going to happen.

When I get outside, I stop in the doorway, watching Mayor Mills tell Henry to wait by the car. Henry does, not knowing that I'm here. If he did, he'd probably come over to me instead.

"Miss Swan, I let you off the hook back there," Mayor Mills says to Emma. "Don't press it."

"I'm sorry, but Mrs. Nolan?" Emma questions. "Kind of feels like her story could be a load of crap. All this time, there's a John Doe lying around in a coma and nobody puts it in the news, nobody goes looking. Something's not right here."

"Well, what else would make sense to you?" Mayor Mills questions. "Why would Miss Nolan lie? Do you think I cast a spell on her?"

"Yes," I mutter under my breath, but of course neither of them hear me.

"I think it's rather strange that you've been his emergency contact all these years and you only found her now," Emma says simply.

"Well, this town is bigger than you know. It's entirely possible to get lost here. It's entirely possible for bad things to happen."

"And just when it's convenient you manage to solve the mystery?" Emma challenges.

"Thanks to you. That tape you found was a stroke of genius. So, we went abck and looked at past tapes. Turns out that Mr. Doe's been talking in his sleep. He's been calling out for a Kathryn. After that, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together. And here I thought you and Mary Margaret would be pleased. True love won out. So bask in the moment, dear. Were it not for you two, they would have lived their lives completely alone. That's why I'm willing to forgive your incessant rudeness. Because all this has reminded me of something oh-so very important. How grateful I am to have Henry. Because not having someone? Well, that's the worst curse imaginable." With that, she turns and walks away, shooing Henry into the car and driving away. Emma just stands there for a minute, both furious and sad. Then she turns and sees me.

"You been there the whole time?" she asks. I nod. "Has she always been like this?" I shake my head this time. "So it's just me?" I nod again.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Mr. Gold**

"You sure we can be out in the open?" Henry asks as he, Emma and I walk down the street.

"Enough sneaking around," Emma says in her confident and defiant voice. "If your mom has a problem with me walking you to a school but, I am more than happy to have that chat."

"You're brave," Henry says exactly what I'm thinking. "We'll need that for Operation Cobra. Speaking of, do you think we need code names?"

"Isn't 'cobra' our code name?" Emma asks.

"That's the mission. I mean us. We need something to call you."

"Oh. Um, well, why don't you just call me Emma for now?" Emma says.

"Okay. Well then, I'll see you later, Emma," Henry says as we wave and get on the bus.

"Why don't you just call her 'mom'?" I ask as we sit down in our usual spots near the back of the bus.

"I want to," Henry says, watching her as the bus pulls away. I look back and notice the sheriff getting out of his car and talking to Emma. "But I don't think she's ready for that yet."

"I don't think she wants to be," I say, almost to myself.

"What do you mean?" Henry asks.

"It's like I said before," I sit back in my seat, looking at Henry. "It's like how she's afraid to believe in the curse. I think she's afraid to be your mom too. Almost like she thinks she'd disappoint you or something."

"That's ridiculous," Henry says. "She can't possibly be any worse than my mom."

I shrug, "That's just what I think. I could be wrong."

"That ridiculous too," Henry says. I look at him, confused. He just smiles, "You're never wrong, Cricket. Not about people. You're too smart."

I look away, pretty sure my face is turning red. I don't say anything to that, because I don't know what to say. It's silent the rest of the ride to school, and then when we get here, everything goes on like normal. Henry has to go home right after school, since he's grounded from sneaking out yesterday. But still, he tells me he'll see me later. Tonight, Mayor Mills has one of her council meetings, so she'll be out for a few hours. And, unbeknownst to her, so will Henry.

So while I wait for Henry to sneak out, I go to our castle, like I always do when he's not around. I sit and do my homework, getting it out of the way now, while I'm alone and it's still light out. After around an hour, Henry comes running over.

"Cricket! Come on! I want to go see Emma," he waves me over from the sidewalk. I quickly put my stuff away in my backpack, throw it over one shoulder, and run over to him, and the two of us run right over to Miss Blanchard's apartment building. Emma's staying with Miss Blanchard while she's in Storybrooke.

When we get to the apartment, Henry opens the door and the two of us go right inside. Mr. Gold's there, strangely. And a little scarily.

"Hey, Emma," Henry says as we walk in. "I was thinking we—"

"Hey, Henry," Mr. Gold says before Henry can finish. "Cricket," he nods to me. "How are you two?"

Henry and I exchange puzzled glances before Henry answers, "Okay."

"Good. Give my regards to your mother," he says to Henry. Then he turns to Emma. "And, um, good luck, Miss Swan." He doesn't say anything to me, just winks when he turns back around, and then leaves. I watch him go, a little confused.

"Do you know who that is?" Henry asks Emma.

"Yeah, course I do," Emma says.

"Who? Cause we're still trying to figure it out."

"Oh, I meant in reality."

"Is that all you brought?" Henry asks, pointing to Emma's stuff.

"What are you guys doing here?" Emma asks.

"My mom's gone 'til five. I thought we could hang out."

"Ah, I wish I could. But there's something I got to do," she says while putting on her jacket. She goes outside, and Henry and I follow her.

"What do you have to do?" Henry asks.

"Mr. Gold asked me to find Ashley," Emma says.

"Please let us help," Henry begs.

"No! No, it could be dangerous."

"The pregnant maid is dangerous?" Henry questions skeptically. We both know that Ashley's a maid at Granny's inn.

"She assaulted Mr. Gold," Emma tells us.

"Cool!" Henry says as I almost laugh. I like Mr. Gold, he's always been nice to me, but the thought of sweet Ashley assaulting him is too good.

"This isn't a game," Emma says sternly. "She's desperate."

"How do you know?" Henry asks.

"Because I know," Emma says vaguely.

"Well, then let's find her," Henry says simply.

"Oh, no, no, no, no," Emma shakes her head, stopping walking and turning to face us. "There is no let's. You two cannot come with me."

"Then we'll look for her ourselves," Henry says just as simply as before.

"Then I'll find you and bring you back," Emma threatens.

"Then you wouldn't be helping the maid," Henry points out. I press my lips together, trying not to laugh.

"I am just trying to be responsible here," Emma sighs.

"And I'm just trying to spend time with you," Henry says and gets into Emma's car.

"Oh, that is really not fair," Emma points out. But she relents, and doesn't tell Henry to get out. She turns to me instead. "And what's your excuse."

I just shrug though, "I follow Henry." I climb into the car behind him. Emma sighs, but gets into the driver's seat.

"So, the maid," Henry says. "What's her story?"

"There is no story," Emma says. "She's pregnant and she took something from Mr. Gold, so he hired me to find her and get her to give it back."

Emma drives us to Granny's Diner, where Ruby's car is being dropped off by a tow truck. Emma gets out and walks over to Ruby, Henry and I following her.

"Hey, Ruby, have you seen Ashley today?" Emma asks.

"Not today," Ruby shakes her head. "Why?"

"She's disappeared. I'm just trying to help find her. She has a boyfriend, right?"

"No, they broke up a while back, around the time he found out she was pregnant."

"So you don't think he was involved in her disappearance?"

"Uh, that would mean he was involved with her at all, which he isn't. He left her in the lurch, right after they found out they were expecting. Hasn't spoken to her since. Like I said—" she cuts off suddenly as her car is dropped suddenly and loudly. "Hey, hey, hey!" she yells at the guy working the tow truck controls. "Billy, be careful! You alost shattered my wolf thing, Billy. It's good luck."

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Billy says quickly. "But look, it's fine."

"Who do you think he is?" Henry asks me quietly.

"I have no idea. Do you?" I ask him just as quietly. He shakes his head.

"Um, Ruby," Emma gets Ruby's attention again. "What about her family?"

"Oh, um, she's got a stepmom and two stepsisters that she doesn't talk to."

"Oh!" I jump a little bit, realizing immediately who Ashley is.

"Wait. Stepmom, stepsisters, and she's a maid?" Henry says.

"Not now, guys," Emma says.

"Look," Ruby says. "I don't know what you've heard, but it's wrong. Everyone thinks she's not ready to have this kid, but she's trying. Taking night classes, trying to better herself, trying to get her life together. Can you understand that?"

"I think so," Emma nods.

"Then maybe you should just stay out of it. She's been through enough already," Ruby tries.

"I've been through it too, Ruby, and I can help her," Emma says.

"Then…try her ex," Ruby says.

"Where can I find him?"

"He lives with his dad."

Henry and I follow Emma back into her car. "It's Cinderella," he says immediately, pulling his book out. "It fits perfectly," he flips quickly to the pages about Cinderella. "Cinderella lived with just her stepmom and step sisters, and they treated her horribly, like she was a maid."

Before he can continue, Emma stops the car again, and we're at Sean's house, and we follow her out. "You two stay back," she tells us, so we stay on the lawn while she goes up and knocks on the door. Just as she does, a truck pulls into the driveway.

"Can I help you?" Sean answers the door.

"Sean Herman?" Emma questions.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Emma Swan. I'm looking for Ashley Boyd. She's in trouble. Just thought maybe she came to see you."

Before Sean can answer, Mr. Herman walks up the steps and past Emma to go just inside the doorway of the house. "My son doesn't have anything to do with that girl anymore. So, whatever trouble she's in, I am sorry for her, but there's nothing we can do to help you."

"You're the reason he broke up with her," Emma realizes.

Mr. Herman doesn't even try to deny it. He just says, "Absolutely. I'm not going to let my son throw away his entire life over a mistake."

"So you just told him to leave her?"

"Well, what are they going to do? Raise the child in the backseat of a car?"

"Some people only have the backseat of a car," Emma almost snaps.

"Well, they're to be pitied," Mr. Herman says. I press my lips together, looking down, wondering what he would think of people who had even less than the back seat of a car. "I'm not letting that happen to my son."

"Dad, maybe we should help her look," Sean tries.

"It's a waste, Sean," Mr. Herman says shortly.  
"Sean, if you want to come, come," Emma says. "Stop letting other people make decisions for you. If Ashley runs away with this baby, she's going to be in some serious trouble."

"She's running away with the baby?" Sean asks.

"Yes," Emma nods.

"Sean, inside, now," Mr. Herman orders. Sean hesitates, but he does end up going inside. "Look, believe me, if I knew where she was, I Would tell you. I went through a lot of trouble to get her that deal."

"Deal? What are you talking about?" Emma asks as Henry and I exchange confused glances.

"You don't know?" Mr. Herman seems surprised and confused. "Ashley agreed to give up the child. And she's being paid very well to do so."

"She sold the baby?"

"Oh, you make it sound so crass. I found someone who's going to find that child a good and proper home."

"And who are you to judge whether Ashley is capable of providing that?"

"Who's to say what is proper?" I say quietly in a fake British accent, copying a line from a movie Henry and I have seen. He almost laughs.

"Look at her," Mr. Herman says as if it's simple. "She's a teenager. She's never shown any evidence of being responsible. How could she possibly know how to be a mother?"

"Maybe she's changing her life."

"Everybody says that. Now look, I found someone who's going to pay Ashley extremely well. Someone's going to see to it that everybody's happy."

"Mr. Gold," Emma realizes.

"Well, isn't that why you were hired? To bring him the baby?"

We leave Sean's house a few minutes later, the three of us in Emma's car again. "You can't make her double cross Gold," Henry says. "No one's ever broken a deal with him."

"I'm happy to be the first," Emma says, so sure of herself. "If Ashley wants to have this baby, she should have it. Anyone who wants to be a mother should damn well be allowed to be one." She pulls up to Granny's diner again and gets out, Henry and I hurrying after her.

"Why didn't you tell me she sold the baby?" Emma asks, going right up to Ruby.

"Because I didn't think it was important," Ruby says simply.

"Really? Considering that's why she's running away," Emma points out.

"Look, Ashley's my friend. I don't like the idea of people judging her."

Then I notice the little red glass wolf that was hanging from Ruby's car's rear-view mirror earlier. It's just sitting on the counter now. "Emma," I say. When she looks at me, I point to it.

"Ruby, where's your car?" Emma asks, looking at Ruby again. Ruby doesn't say anything right away. "You didn't send me to Sean to find her," Emma realizes. "You sent me there to give her a head start."

"Look, I'm only trying to help her," Ruby says.

"Yes, so am I. Ashley's in more trouble than you know, Ruby. Where is she? Don't make her deal with Gold without me."

"I can't talk in front of them," Ruby says, gesturing to me and Henry. "He's the mayor's kid and she's his partner in crime."

"Hey!" Henry protests. "We're on your side!"

Emma turns to us, "Guys, I need to find this woman. And in order to do that, I need you to go home, okay? So please listen to me. Seriously. She's not going to tell me anything if you're around."

"Okay," Henry agrees reluctantly.

"Thank you," Emma says, and Henry and I turn to leave the diner.

"It's almost five," I tell Henry once we're outside. "You should go home before you're caught anyway."  
"I guess," Henry agrees.

"Can I borrow your book?" I ask him.

"Sure," he takes his backpack off and fishes Once Upon a Time out of it. "But only if I can borrow yours."

"Why do you want mine?" I ask curiously. But I take off my own backpack to take out Otherlands so we can trade books.

"I want to know more about the Enchanted Forest," Henry tells me. "Why do you want mine?"

"I think I know who someone is, but I want to make sure," I tell him. "I'll tell you tomorrow if I'm right or not."

"Okay," he smiles. "See you tomorrow, Cricket." He puts his backpack back over his shoulders and walks away, waving as he goes.

"Bye, Henry," I smile and wave back at him.

While he goes home, I go to the castle. While it's still a little light out, I turn the pages of Once Upon a Time until I get to Cinderella's story, and I reread it. Cinderella made a deal with Rumplstiltskin. A deal where she would give him her baby when it was born so that she could have the life of a princess and be free of her step mom and stepsisters. Rumplstiltskin is also the one who gave the Evil Queen the curse that she used on the people of the Enchanted Forest, the one that made Storybrooke. It says so towards the end of the book.

Everyone knows that once you make a deal with Rumplestiltskin, you can't break it. He won't let you. He's the Dark One, the most powerful dark magic creature to ever exist. If he _gave_ the Evil Queen the curse…then would it still affect him? If he's so powerful, if he knew exactly what the curse would do, he'd also know how to reverse it and how to shield himself from it.

I close the book and put it back into my backpack, in the same spot I usually keep Otherlands. I jump down from the castle and take off running. It's getting dark now. By the time I make it to Mr. Gold's shop, it is dark, and I'm running by streetlights. But the lights of Mr. Gold's shop are still on, and I can see him inside, cleaning something, even though the sign says the shop's closed. I knock on the glass, for the first time that I can remember. Mr. Gold looks up, and when he sees me, he walks around the counter he's standing behind and over to the door, using his cane with each step. He unlocks the door and opens it.

"Cricket, what a surprise," he says. "How can I help you?"

"I think…" I hesitate, not knowing what to say, how to start this conversation. I end up chewing on my bottom lip, looking down, silent for a minute.

"Why don't you come in for a cup of cocoa?" Mr. Gold finally suggests, stepping aside so that I can come in. Neither of us say anything as he leads me to the back room and makes cocoa. Not until the cocoa's made and we're both sitting down at a small round table.

"Now, what can I do for you, young lady?" Mr. Gold asks.

Again, I struggle to figure out how to start, what to say. Finally, I just ask, "What's your first name?"

"I'm sorry?" he looks at me, seeming puzzled.

"Nobody knows," I say. "Everyone knows who you are. Mr. Gold, the owner of the pawn shop and a deal maker…but nobody knows your first name. It's never come up. I don't think you have one. Not a curse first name, at least."

"A curse? Perhaps you should start from the beginning, dearie."

"He says that too," I notice.

"Who says what?"

"Rumpelstiltskin says 'dearie'. He calls everyone dearie. Like you do."

This time, Mr. Gold doesn't say anything.

"You see," I sit up a little bit, finally finding my words. "Henry and I have a theory, that this whole town's the product of a curse that the Evil Queen cast because she wanted to take away Snow White and Prince Charming's happy ending. The curse took away everybody's memories except for hers, and took them all out of the Enchanted Forest and created this town to live in. And time's been frozen here for 28 years until Emma came, because she's the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, they put her in a wardrobe just before the curse took everyone away, and she came to this world separated and got raised properly, and now she's back and breaking the curse. It's already begun, because the clock tower that's been broken forever started ticking again. But the point is, Henry and I are figuring out who everyone is. We don't know everyone yet, but we know a lot. Like the mayor is the Evil Queen and Ruby is Red Riding Hood and Granny is Red's granny and Miss Blanchard is Snow White and John Doe is Prince Charming…I don't know who that Kathryn lady is, but she's not meant to be with Prince Charming, she's, oh! She's King Midas's daughter! Because she was engaged to Prince Charming, but then he fell in love with Snow White and she was in love with another man, Frederick, but we don't know who he is yet, and so they broke off the engagement…"

"I believe you are straying from the point again, dearie," Mr. Gold cuts in.

"Right," I shake my head, collecting myself again. "I think I know who you are though. You've been one of the hardest ones to figure out, but I think I know. I think you're Rumpelstiltskin."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because you made a deal with Ashley that you'd take her baby and give it a good home. Rumpelstiltskin made a deal with Cinderella to take her baby in exchange for a happy life. Ashley's Cinderella. Plus you call people dearie. But also, I think you already know exactly all that I'm talking about. I think you're the only person in Storybrooke who knows all about the curse, who remembers their life in the Enchanted Forest, aside from the Evil Queen. She knows because she cast the curse. But you know because you _gave_ her the curse. Or led her to it, at least. But either way, you knew all about it, so it makes sense that you'd know how to guard yourself against it. I bet you even could have stayed in the Enchanted Forest, if you'd wanted to."

"Well, that is an interesting theory," Mr. Gold says once I finally stop talking.

"Is it right? Am I right about you, I mean? Are you Rumpelstiltskin?"

"You are quite clever, dearie," he says instead of answering.

"Well, it's not _just_ me," I say quickly. "Henry figured out mostly everything."

"But you were alone in connecting me to Rumpelstiltskin, were you not?" he asks.

"Well, yeah, but Henry probably would have, except we were too busy looking for Ashley."

"Did you find her?"

"I don't know if Emma did. She sent me and Henry home."

"And yet you came here instead," he points out.

"Not right away."

"It is quite late," he says, pointing to a clock. It's almost eight by now. All the kids my age are home by now, and probably have been for a while. "And this isn't the first time I've seen you out late."

"What are you getting at?" I ask cautiously.

"Well, dearie, you know my secret, now it's only fair if I know yours, is it not?"

"Your secret?" I sit up straight. "Then I'm right? You're Rumpelstiltskin."

"I am. All of your theories about me are correct. But you must keep it a secret. I won't ask you to keep it from Henry, I know better than that, and I trust the boy to keep a secret this important. But the Evil Queen doesn't know that her curse did not affect me, so you must not let her know. Her, nor anyone else."

"I won't, I promise," I nod quickly.

"Good girl. Now, as for your secret…" he looks at me. "You have no parents, do you?"

"No, sir," I admit reluctantly, looking down.

"And you sleep, where? In an abandoned building?"

I shake my head, "There's a special place Henry and I go to, I sleep there. He doesn't know though, nobody does. So if I'm going to keep your secret then you have to keep mine too. It's only fair."

He smiles, "Of course I will." After a pause, he adds, "You've always been so quiet. But I think that's just your cursed self."

"What do you mean?"

"The curse, as well as taking away all memories of its victims lives and giving them new names, can also give them somewhat different personalities. Oh, their true selves always show in some small form or occasionally, of course. But under the curse, people become different people. I do believe you're not meant to be as quiet and reserved as you've been all this time."

"You think I'm meant to be like I am right now? Talking too much and all?"

"Don't you feel better this way? Voicing your thoughts, not thinking so much? Feels more right, doesn't it?"

I don't say anything. He's right. Tonight I feel more confident in myself than I ever have before. Than I ever remember being, at least.

"Mr. Gold…" I say after a minute. I look at him again. "What's going to happen when the curse is broken? To the whole town, I mean," I add quickly, even though I'm mostly just curious about myself. "Will Storybrooke stay or will everyone go back to the Enchanted Forest, almost like the curse never happened?"

But Mr. Gold just smiles, standing up. "Now, dearie, you wouldn't want to know the ending of a story before you've begun it, now would you?" he turns and starts to leave. In the doorway, though, he stops. "By the way," he looks back at me. "I do leave the back door unlocked, dearie."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Belief of Crickets**

"Cricket!" Henry comes running over to me as I'm walking down the street, on my way to the bus stop. I stop and turn around as he races over, out of breath. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Why?" I ask, almost laughing.

"I tried to find you last night, but you were already gone by the time I thought of it, and I didn't have time to get you…" he starts.

"Thought of what?" I wonder.

"I snuck into Emma's car while she was still inside the diner, talking to Ruby. I went with her to find Ashley."  
"Oh!" I groan. I can't believe I missed that. "Did you find her?"

"Yeah, she was trying to go to Boston, but her car ran off the road. We found her on the side of the road, she was about to have her baby! So we took her to the hospital, then Mr. Gold showed up to take the baby."

"Did he get it? Wait, is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl, her name's Alexandra," Henry says quickly. "Mr. Gold didn't get her yet, Emma's trying to stop him. But Emma drove me home just before five. I don't know if he got the baby after that."

"He didn't," I tell Henry. Because I was at Mr. Gold's way after five, and there was no baby.

"How do you know?" Henry asks.

"I saw him through the window of his shop last night, after dark. He was just cleaning, there was no baby," I tell him as the bus pulls up. "Wait, so did the mayor catch you?"

"No, I got home _just_ in time. I thought she caught me for a second, cause she started yelling, but I'd just dropped my shoe on the stairs." I almost laugh. "I have to go to therapy today," he sighs.

"That's what you get for telling the Evil Queen you know what she did," I shake my head.

"I didn't mean to!" Henry almost whines. "I was just so excited, and you and I were just talking about it, I just couldn't stop! I think I have her convinced I stopped believing that though."  
"I hope so. Oh, here," I take Once Upon a Time out of my bag and hand it over to him. He takes Otherlands out of his bag and gives it back to me too, and we put our own books back in our bags.

"Will you tell me why you wanted my book now?" he asks.

"I thought I figured out who Mr. Gold is, but I wanted to make sure I was right."

"Were you?" Henry asks excitedly.

I grin, nodding. "Mr. Gold is Rumpelstiltskin."

"I can't believe I didn't think of that!" Henry almost groans, hitting the back of his head against the seat behind us. "It makes so much sense!"

"There's more, but you can't tell anyone about it," I tell him as the bus pulls up to the school. "And I don't want to say it here either, someone might hear," I add as we get off the bus.

"Then we'll meet after my therapy."

"At the castle," I nod.

That afternoon, Henry has to go to the mayor's office and then to therapy, so I'm on my own that afternoon. For a little while, I sit at the castle and pour through my book, wanting to memorize as much as I can. In the back of my mind, I'm hoping that someday I'll be able to go to these worlds myself. The Enchanted Forest, Neverland, Wonderland…they all sounded so amazing, even through their dangers.

But what would happen when the curse was finally broken? Where would we go?

Where would I go?

I closed my book, put it in my backpack, and left the castle. I went back to Mr. Gold's shop, but since it was still early, and the shop was open, I didn't have to knock this time. I just opened the shop's door and went inside. But even though the shop was open, Mr. Gold didn't seem to be there.

"Hello?" I called, somewhat hesitantly. "Mr. Gold?"

He came out of the back room where we had hot cocoa before. "Hello, dearie. To what do I owe this visit? I don't think you've ever been in my shop before." Then he smiles a little bit, "Not during opening hours, at least."

"I was wondering…" I hesitate again, chewing on my lower lip.

"Yes?" he probes.

After taking a deep breath to strengthen myself, I ask, "I was wondering if you know who I am. I mean…you're the Dark One. You know who everyone is, right? So you have to know who I am. Will you tell me?"

"Of course not, dearie," he smiles softly, which has always been a strange thing coming from Mr. Gold. He's always been pretty heartless. But now, knowing that he's really Rumpelstiltskin, it's especially odd. And I'm not sure if I should be frightened, or if I should be especially grateful that someone who's supposed to be so evil is being so kind to me. "I know more than you realize yet," he tells me. "But I won't tell you very much. It would ruin the fun of discovering it yourself, don't you think?"

"I suppose so," I admit reluctantly. He's right, I know he is. But still, I want to know so badly.

Before either of us can say anything else, the ground starts shaking violently. It makes Mr. Gold lose his balance and almost fall into the counter, gripping onto it to stay upright. I let out a startled yell and automatically try to flee to the nearest stable thing. But I'm in the middle of the shop and moving just throws me off balance even more, and I tumble heavily to the ground, a few of Mr. Gold's antiques falling onto me.

And then, just as suddenly as it came, it's gone. The ground goes still again.

"Cricket? Are you alright?" Mr. Gold asks as I sit up slowly, slightly dazed.

"What just happened?" I ask him, ignoring his own question.

"I know about the past, dearie, not the future," he says simply.

"Somehow I doubt that," I mutter under my breath. But I get up and run out of the shop, determined to find out.

I'm not the only one who wants to know what's going on. Most of the town is coming outside. We hear shouts, so we all go running and walking towards them. I sprint at full speed, eager to see what's going on. I get there before most people, because I'm so fast. Only about a dozen people are there when I arrive, but dozens more are not far behind me.

"Everyone!" Regina arrives, calling everyone's attention. "Step back, please!"

"Is that a crater?" Ruby asks.

"No, there were tunnels, old mines. Something collapsed," Marco says. By now, the Sheriff and Emma have arrived too.

"Sheriff, set up a police perimeter," Regina instructs. "Marco, why don't you help with the fire department? Miss Swan, this is now official town business. You're free to go."

"Well, actually, I work for the town now," Emma says matter-of-factly.

"She's my new deputy," the Sheriff tells Miss Mills. I silently cheer.

"They say the Mayor's always the last to know," Miss Mills says, clearly not pleased.

"It's in my budget."

"Indeed. Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful and help with crowd control?" Miss Mills says to Emma before walking away to stand in front of the crowd. "People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels. But fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe. To rehabilitate it into city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, pave it."

My eyes widen, but thankfully Henry appears to speak up so that I don't have to. "Pave it? What if there's something down there?"

"Henry. What are you doing here?" Miss Mills asks him.

"What's down there?" Henry asks, ignoring her question.

"Nothing. Now step back. In fact," she raises her voice again, addressing the whole crowd. "Everyone! Please, please step back! Thank you."

As everyone backs up, I grab Henry's arm, getting his attention, and then immediately turn it back to Miss Mills as she picks something up off the ground.

"What was that?" Henry asks.

"Henry, enough. Listen. This is a safety issue. Wait in the car."

"Come on, Cricket," Henry says and we both turn around.

"Not her," Miss Mills says, stopping us.

"I know she's not allowed to come over," Henry says over his shoulder. "She's just going to wait with me." We're both gone before Miss Mills can argue any more, climbing into the back seat. I've sat with Henry in his mom's car a few times before. We'll sit together while he waits for her, then when she comes back, I'll get out and they'll go home.

"We're not going to stay in here, are we?" I ask him.

"Of course not," he almost scoffs, looking out the window. He's watching Miss Mills, I realize. And as soon as her attention's turned, he says, "Come on," and gets back out of the car. I follow him out, and the two of us hurry over to Dr. Hopper.

"Hey, Archie! Over here!" Henry whisper-yells from behind the car closest to Dr. Hopper. Emma's with him though, and they both come over. "This requires all of Operation Cobra. Both of you."

"I didn't realize I was in Operation Cobra," Dr. Hopper says.

"Of course you are," Henry says simply. "You know everything. We can't let her do this. What if there's something down there?"

"They're just some old tunnels," Emma says reasonably. Annoyingly reasonably.

"That just happened to collapse right after you got here? You're changing things. You're weakening the curse."

"That's not what's happening."

I actually stamp my foot in frustration as Henry says, "Yes it is! Did you do anything different today? Cause something made this happen."

Before Emma can answer or I can tell Henry that she's the Deputy now, Miss Mills walks over.

"Henry, I told you to wait in the car. Deputy, do your job," she commands. Emma turns and goes off in one direction, and Henry and I turn to go back to Miss Mills' car.

"Not you, Cricket," Miss Mills says again. "Not even to the car."

"What?" Henry asks as we both turn around.

"I need to speak to Cricket alone," Miss Mills says. My eyes widen and I look at Henry, silently begging him to come up with a way to get me out of this. He doesn't say anything. He can't think of anything to say or do that would change Miss Mills' mind. "Wait in the car, Henry," Miss Mills repeats when neither of us move. We have no choice. Henry reluctantly turns and goes back to the mayor's car, and I stay where I am, wanting more than anything to run and hide.

"Dr. Hopper, I need to speak with you as well," Mayor Mills says, and now I know that we're both really screwed. "Okay, we're done with this."

"Uh, excuse me?" Dr. Hopper asks, apparently just as confused as I am. But not nearly as scared.

"My son. We need a new treatment plan. Everything I do, he thinks is part of some horrible plot. I can't cover up a safety hazard without him thinking I'm hiding something. How am I hiding something terrible in an old mine? How is any of this logical to him?"

The words are out of my mouth before I even know they're in my head. "You know how it's logical, that's the only reason you're fighting him on any of this, it's because you know we're right, you know we're catching on to you. If you were innocent, if we weren't right, you wouldn't bother. You'd think this was a phase or something and you'd let us go on with our stories and pretending and know that we'd grow out of it eventually. But you're not, you're trying to hard to stop us and the only reason to try to stop someone is because they're on the right track."

"That's enough from you," Mayor Mills snaps angrily. "I want you to stay away from my son. And if you don't, if you go near him ever again, I'll have you shipped off to New York to live as a street urchin. You think I don't know your little secret? That you're an orphan living on a playground? I know _everything_ about this town, you little brat, and if you don't do as I say, I will make sure that you are not just sent away, but that you are locked away in an asylum, where they'll put you in a straight jacket in a padded room and electrocute your brain daily."

"Mayor Mills, I think you're going a bit too far," Dr. Hopper starts, but Mayor Mills turns on him now, in no mood to be argued or disagreed with.

"Sometimes, I think you've forgotten. You work for me. You're an employee. And I can fire you. This is my town. You will lose your office, lose your house, I can cut you down to size until you're a tiny, shrunken little creature and this," she grabs his umbrella and holds it up to show at him, "will be the only roof over your damn head."

Dr. Hopper's defeated. "What would you have me do?" he asks.

"You take that delusion out of my son's head and you crush it."

That night, as I'm walking through town, I stop walking across the street from Mr. Gold's shop and look over at it. It's late, almost midnight, and the shop's closed and dark. There's only one small light I can see from here, and it looks like it's coming from the back room. Mr. Gold invited me to sleep in the back room whenever I wanted. He even has a cushioned bench there that's comfortable enough to be a nice bed. He even leaves a lamp on for me.

But tonight, I don't think I want to sleep there. I don't think I want to sleep anywhere near anyone. Henry was my only friend and now I wasn't allowed to go near him ever again. If I did, Mayor Mills would send me away, and I lived in a cursed town. I don't even want to think about what might happen if I tried to leave. Or was forced to.

After a few minutes of just staring at Mr. Gold's shop, I end up just turning around and going back towards the mines. Nobody else is there anymore, everyone gone home. All that's left is police tape and temporary posts surrounding the area. I duck under the police tape and head into the mine. I don't go very far though, since I don't have a flashlight or anything else to light the way. I just settle in a few feet in from the opening and sleep there.

Avoiding Henry the next day turns out to be really hard. I have to avoid all the places we normally go, which are basically all the places I ever go. I walk to school instead of taking the bus. I make sure I don't go into classrooms until the last minute and I sit as far away from Henry as possible. I'm always the first one out of the classroom, before he can come over, and I make sure to avoid him in the hallways. I don't even look at him. Or go to the castle.

I manage to pull it off for a few days. I'm good at staying hidden, staying away from people. Since I can't sleep at the castle anymore though, I keep sleeping in the cave. I have to stay near the entrance because I don't have a flashlight, but I'm always out before anyone comes looking around anyway, so it's never a problem.

"Cricket," Mr. Gold calls over to me after school the second day I've been avoiding Henry, as I'm walking down the sidewalk across from his shop. I stop and look over at him. He gestures for me to come over, so I check the street and then jog across and over to Mr. Gold.

"Where's Henry?" he asks curiously.

"He goes to see Dr. Hopper today," I tell him. It's true, at least, and it'll keep him from asking any questions yet. I still haven't thought up what I'm going to stay about my friendship with Henry suddenly ending.

"I see," Mr. Gold nods. "I was wondering if you might be interested in helping me."

"With what?"

"Around the shop. It's a lot of work, you know. I've considered hiring someone a few times before. You'd be saving me the trouble. Consider it paying me back for sleeping in the back room."

"But I haven't been sleeping in the back room," I admit. "I only did a couple times."

"I know. So I'm prepared to make you a deal. You work for me, cleaning up around the shop and running any errands I ask you to, and in exchange, you can live here. I'll even pay you a little bit, enough so that you can buy yourself some new clothes or eat at the diner once in a while." He shrugs, "Whatever you want."

"Why?" I ask, the question out before I can stop it.

"Why what?"

"Why are you offering this? I've read more of the book than Henry, I've memorized most of it. You only make deals that benefit you."

"This would benefit me. I'm a busy man, I'm sure you realize that running this shop is not the only thing I do."

"Deals that benefit _only_ you," I correct myself.

Mr. Gold doesn't say anything right away. He just looks at me for a minute, almost as if he were examining me or something, before he asks, "Do we have a deal, dearie, or don't we?"

I don't answer right away, thinking. Part of me thinks that this has to be a trick. Rumpelstiltskin isn't nice. He tricks people into making deals that benefit him, even if it's just for his entertainment, and ends up making their lives even worse off somehow.

Before I can decide on an answer though, the shop's door opens again and Emma and Dr. Hopper come in. "Cricket, where's Henry?" Emma asks me.

I frown, looking at Dr. Hopper. Henry _was_ supposed to be with Dr. Hopper this afternoon.

"Cricket's been with me all afternoon, with haven't seen Henry. For someone in the business of finding people, Miss Swan, it seems you're more skilled at losing them," Mr. Gold commented.

"I am so not in the mood to deal with you," Emma shakes her head at Mr. Gold.

"Cricket, do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Dr. Hopper asks me. I nod, but without saying anything, I leave the shop and start running down the sidewalk. I know exactly where Henry's gone.

After a few seconds, Emma and Dr. Hopper come out of Mr. Gold's shop and follow me. I lead them back to the tunnels, and while Emma and Dr. Hopper stop to look around, I hesitate only long enough to make sure they've both stopped paying attention to me for a few minutes, and then I go into the tunnel myself, wishing I had some sort of light.

"Henry?" My voice echoes through the cave. I can almost picture it spiraling down the tunnel. "Henry!" I call louder as I walk deeper into the tunnel.

"Cricket!" Dr. Hopper call from not far being me. I look over my shoulder just before the tunnel starts shaking and the entrance collapses. I dart around the closest corner, just about a foot in front of me, for shelter as rocks and rubble and dust fly.

Once it's over and the dust settles, Dr. Hopper calls, "Cricket?!"

"Cricket!" another voice calls from just behind me, making me jump and spin around. But this one's just Henry, now with a flashlight in his hand.

"Henry?" Dr. Hopper calls, probably having heard Henry say my name.

"Archie!" Henry runs past me so that he can turn the corner and see Dr. Hopper. I follow Henry. "You're here to help!"

"No, Henry, listen. We got to get out of here, okay?" Dr. Hopper says.

"So you're still against me?"

"Henry, there's no time for that. Come on, Henry! Come on!"

"You don't believe me? You'll see. You'll see! Come on, Cricket!" Henry turns and runs deeper into the mine.

"Henry!" Dr. Hopper calls. "Henry, Come back here!"

"Cricket!" Henry calls, but his voice is getting further away. He's still going, with or without me. I don't move right away, just looking at Dr. Hopper. Remembering what Mayor Mills says. He's afraid of her. I was too…but if Henry and I are right, and I know we are, then she can be stopped. Evil can't always win.

Dr. Hopper's afraid of her, but I won't be anymore. I turn and run off to follow Henry. I'm fast, so I catch up to him pretty quickly. Henry and I slow down to a walk once we're well away from Dr. Hopper, out of his sight so that he can't see even Henry's flashlight anymore.

"Where've you _been_?" Henry asks me as we walk, his flashlight swinging around, searching.

"Evil Queen," I sigh. "I _actually_ fell for it for a minute."

"Wait, what?" he stops, turning to look at me. "My mom? What did she say?" he practically demands.

"She said she'd have me sent away if I came near you again," I tell him.

"When?!"

"The other day, when the mine first opened up," I tell him. "After she sent you to the car and made me stay behind, she said that if I went near you ever again, she'd send me to New York to live on the streets there or to an asylum where'd they'd always keep me locked up and in a straightjacket and do electroshock therapy on me every day."

"I didn't understand most of that," Henry says.

"Straightjackets make it so that you can't move your arms at all and electroshock therapy is when they electrocute you, right in the head."

"She can't do that! She can't send you away anyway, the curse will—"

"Will what?" I almost demand before he can finish. "We don't know what the curse will do if someone leaves town."

"The curse won't _let_ you leave town. That's what happened with Ashley. She tried to leave town and she got in a car wreck instead."

"She cast the curse though. If anyone can leave, or make someone else leave, it's her."

"Or Mr. Gold!" Henry almost jumps as he says this, a realization hitting him. "You never told me the rest."

"Rumpelstiltskin gave the Evil Queen the curse," I tell him.

"What's that mean?" Henry asks.

"It means he knew the curse, knew how to, how to defend against it. The curse didn't affect him, not as much as it did everyone else. He still remembers everything!"

"Then maybe he'll help you, keep my mom from sending you away!"

"It's Rumpelstiltskin, Henry," I remind him. "He doesn't do anything to benefit anyone besides himself."

Henry shakes his head though as he continues walking, "I think he'd help you."

"Why?" I ask as I follow him.

Henry shrugs, "I don't know. I just think he would. I think he likes you."

"Mr. Gold doesn't like anyone. Neither did Rumpelstiltskin. The closest he's ever come to liking someone is...was your mom, back when he was teaching her how to use magic when she was a teenager."

"Do you have that whole book memorized?" Henry asks, looking at me.

"Most of it," I shrug.

He smiles, then goes back to searching. "Fine, we'll pretend you're right. But if my mom does try to send you away, we're going to at least ask him, okay?"

"Fine," I agreed, knowing that he wouldn't let up, and that he would go anyway even if I didn't agree. "Wait, what was that?"

"What?" Henry stops walking, and I grab hold of his wrist so that I can turn his flashlight myself, backtracking it a little bit. There's a hole in the ground, and the light reveals something down there, but I can't make out what.

"Look," I tell him.

"Henry! Cricket!" Dr. Hopper finally finds us. "There you two are!"

"There's something shiny down there," Henry tells him.

"Henry, this is seriously dangerous. We got to get out of here."

"It could be something. Cricket, can you fit down there?" Henry asks me. The hole isn't that small. Too small for Henry to fit through, definitely. But maybe I could. Along with being several inches shorter than Henry, I'm almost half Henry's size, almost too skinny because I don't eat quite enough. I might be able to fit. I immediately drop my backpack and start unbuttoning my school uniform's coat.

"No, you're not going down there!" Dr. Hopper says. "Henry, look at me! Look at me! I'm frightened for you, Henry."

"Because you think we're crazy," Henry turns to look at him completely.

"No! No, because it's dangerous and we're trapped underground in an abandoned mine, Henry. And there is no way out."

But I just got my coat completely unbuttoned and now I'm dropping it on top of my backpack.

"Yes there is, and we'll find it," Henry insisted, not the least bit concerned. "But first we're going to find out what's down there."

"No, we're not. Cricket, get your jacket and your backpack," Dr. Hopper says to me. "We have to find a way out of here."

Finally, Henry and I reluctantly relent. I pick up my jacket, not bothering to put it back on, and the three of us start walking through the tunnels, looking for a way out. We don't have to walk very far before we start to hear barking.

"Do you hear that?" Dr. Hopper asks as we all stop walking, listening closely.

"It's Pongo!" Henry says.

"Follow the noise!" Dr. Hopper says, but we're already moving, all the three of us hurrying along the tunnels, following the sound of Dr. Hopper's dog's barking.

"It's loudest over here," Dr. Hopper said as we came to an intersection. He turned in the direction of the barking and Henry and I follow until we come up on what looks like an old cage or something.

"What's…what's this?" Henry asks.

"Looks like…an old elevator," Dr. Hopper says, inspecting it. "It's to get the mine workers in and out. It goes all the way to the top. That's why we could hear Pongo."

"Can we make it work?" Henry asks.

"Let's give it a shot." It doesn't take long. Only a little bit more searching and he finds a wheel. When he starts to turn it, the elevator moves a little bit. "Come on!" Henry hands me his flashlight and goes over to help Dr. Hopper move the elevator. It doesn't get very far though before the entire mine shakes and the elevator drops a little bit.

"What was that?" Henry asks.

"I don't know," Dr. Hopper says, looking down the tunnel the way we came. From here, it doesn't look like anything's really happened. Just a few pebbles and some dust fell when the shaking happened. "Maybe the mine's collapsing more."

"That's not good," Henry says needlessly. Dr. Hopper tries to turn the wheel again, but this time it won't budge. Something shifted and broke when the shaking happened, and now the elevator won't work. "Now how do we get out?" Henry asks.

"I don't know," Dr. Hopper says defeatedly, sitting down on the floor of the elevator. It's silent for a few minutes before Henry sits down too. I stay standing, looking around, trying to figure out if there's just something small we have to do to get the elevator running again. Move a rock that fell into the wrong spot or something. Something fixable.

"I'm really, really, really sorry," Henry finally says.

"It's alright," Dr. Hopper tells him.

"I just wanted to find proof."

"You know, it's really alright, Henry. And um, um, I'm sorry too. Look, I…I don't think that you're crazy. Either of you. I-I just…I just think you've got a very strong mother, who's got a clear idea of a path that she wants you to be on and when you step off that she…she gets scared. And you know, it's natural. But it's also natural for you to be able to be free to think the things that you want to think. So, anyway. I…I didn't mean those things I said and I never should have said them."

"Then why did you?" Henry asks, glancing at me. I could tell he was wondering if the mayor had threatened him like she threatened me.

"I guess I'm just not a very good person. I'm not the man I want to be," Dr. Hopper says. I want to say it's because of the curse. I think Henry does too.

But instead, he says, "I think you can be him. I think you can be a good person. I mean, you're Jiminy Cricket."

"Henry. Henry, Jiminy Cricket was a… He was a cricket, okay? And he was a conscious. And…And I hardly think that's me," Dr. Hopper shakes his head.

"But before he was that, he was a guy who took along time to figure out the right thing to do."

"That kind of sounds like me," Dr. Hopper agrees.

"Now it's harder for you because of the curse," Henry explains. "To hear the voice inside of you. To be who you want to be."

The elevator jerks, dropping further down the shaft. This time, I drop down to sit on the floor too, looking up and around with wide eyes. We're all silent for a few seconds, waiting to see if the elevator's going to drop further down. When it doesn't, Dr. Hopper asks, "Hey, can I ask you again?"

"Ask what?"

"Why do you think it's so important that your…your fairy tale theory is true."

"I don't know," Henry says.

"Give it a shot."

"Cause this can't be all there is," Henry says.

"I understand."

"I thought if I found proof… But I didn't find anything."

"Well that's not true. I was lost and you found me, right?"

"You mean, you remember?" Henry asks hopefully.

"No, Henry. I…I don't remember. But I-I do remember the kind of person that I want ot be. I just got to listen harder."

 _Baby steps,_ I think. But I don't say it. Pieces of rock fall through the grate at the top of the elevator, and when we look up, we can see a light.

"What's that?" Henry asks.

"I think that's the rescue," Dr. Hopper says as I stand up, looking up.

"You guys okay?" Emma calls down as she descends down towards us, hung up on some kind of line or cable or something.

"Yeah, we're…we're okay," Dr. Hopper calls up to her.

"Hang on, Henry." She looks up, "Okay, that's good! Stop!"

Archie starts to help Henry up to Emma, but Henry backs away. "Cricket first."

"I can take both of them," Emma says. So Archie nods and lifts me up to Emma first, then Henry. The elevator starts to shake again just as Emma has us both though.

"Archie?" Emma asks.

"It's going to fall!" Archie says, holding onto the side of the elevator to keep himself upright.

"I'm sorry!"

"It's okay!"

"Archie!" Emma yells as the elevator drops. But Dr. Hopper doesn't. The handle of his umbrella is hooked to the harness around Emma, with him dangling from it.

The four of us are pulled safely out of the elevator shaft. As soon as we're out, the Mayor grabs Henry by the arm and pulls him away. And as soon as she starts to pull him away, he grabs my hand and pulls me with him.

"Henry, let her go," Mayor Mills commands.

"No," Henry says, pulling out of her hold. "She's my friend."

"She's a bad influence," the mayor says.

Before either of us can say anything else, Emma comes running over.

"You guys okay?" she asks me and Henry.

"Deputy, you can clear the crowd away," Mayor Mills says, pushing Emma away. After telling Henry to go home, without me, she walks away too. Henry and I both stay, of course, watching Mayor Mills and Archie.

"She told him that she'd fire him and take away his house," I whisper quickly to Henry.

"Thank you, Dr. Hopper," we hear Miss Mills say to Dr. Hopper, who is now with Marco, his best friend.

"I, uh… I have something to say," Dr. Hopper says to Mayor Mills, "I'm going to continue to treat Henry, and I'm going to do it my own way."

"My relief at his safety hasn't changed a thing, Dr. Hopper. You will do as I say, or you will—"

Dr. Hopper cuts her off. "Or will what? You'll ruin my life? You'll do your worst? Because I will always do my best."

"Don't test me," Mayor Mills warns.  
"Oh, I don't need to. Because you're going to leave me alone and let me do my work. In peace."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because someday, Madam Mayor, you may find yourself in a custody battle. And you know how the court determines who is a fit parent? They consult an expert. Particularly one who has treated the child. So I suggest that you think about that. And you allow me to do my work. And let me do it the way my conscious tells me to."

Henry's jaw drops in a wide grin and I have to cover my mouth with my hands to keep from bursting out into cheers or laughter, or both. The Evil Queen, in this matter at least, has been defeated. There was still my friendship with Henry to fight for, and the curse to break, and Emma to convince. But as much as I love the idea of it happening all at once, this is enough for me. One step at a time. And we can deal with the rest tomorrow.

Because right now the sun is setting and people are drinking and as the mine watch becomes unnecessary and the danger's past, it all turns into a sort of party. For the night, at least, Mayor Mills leaves me and Henry alone, letting us hang out by the mine and hang out together. We sit together with our books of fairy tales and other worlds and we talk and laugh and debate theories until they turn into fights where we throw dirt at each other. And eventually Emma comes over and sits with us too, and I make a "told you so" face at Henry, and even though I haven't told him anything for a while, he still understand that I mean that Emma does want him and love him, even if she's afraid to.

"Is that Archie's father?" Emma asks, looking over at Dr. Hopper and Marco.

"No, they're just old friends," Henry tells her.

"Jiminy Cricket and Geppetto," I add. Emma rolls her eyes, but it's in an amused way, not a bad way.

"You really scared me," Emma says to Henry. "Both of you," she adds, looking at me too.

"We're sorry," Henry speaks for both of us as Dr. Hopper comes over.

"Gentlemen," Emma greets, then stands up and looks at Henry again. "Well, come on. Your mom wants to take you home." Henry and I both stand up, but before him and Emma can walk off, Henry stops.

"Hey! Listen," He says. I look at him confused, but then I hear them. I smile, looking around as if I could see them. The sound of crickets, for the first time that I can remember, is echoing through the air.

"Crickets," Dr. Hopper says.

"They're back," Henry smiles, looking at me as I look at him. "Things are changing."

After Henry goes home, I leave too. But I go to Mr. Gold's shop. The shop's closed but the light is on, Mr. Gold walking through his shop, his back to me. I knock on the door. He turns and comes right over to open it.

"Hello again, dearie. I trust things went well at the mine?" He asks.

"About the deal…is it still on the table?" I ask.

"It is."

"Then I accept."


End file.
